Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The fist & the pacifist is closed till further notice.
Cheers.
Rohan
Labels: Revolving Doors
If you stare at the sky long enough, the lights will go out.
The fist & the pacifist is closed till further notice.
Cheers.
Rohan
Monday, August 14, 2006
On saturday the week long Geneve Fete drew to a close. It had rained all evening, the fireworks display by the lake, which officially signals the end of the fete, appeared to be a no show.
At about 9:30, the rain petered down and I made my way towards the lake. I was near Cornavin Station when the fireworks display began. The roads leading to Quai Mont Blanc were cordoned off for vehicular traffic. And suddenly there was a mad rush - people sprinted down the road towards the lake side. It almost felt like one of those disaster movies, when the monster makes an appearance at a crossroad, and people run in the opposite direction.
The Quai was packed. The fireworks were splendid. Gold spangles lit up the night and then slowly melted into the river. Spiraling globes of blue and red, burst upon the sky for a glorious memorable moment and then allowed the darkness to slither back in. The geometric shapes and seemingly random patterns of light, burst upon the night, as the thousands who had gathered looked on spellbound.
The reflections of the fireworks on the lake - created awry images of brilliant light. The hotels which line the lake, had guests out on the verandahs, taking in the spectacle. The fireworks extended their imagery to the shut windows, lighting them up like neon signs on a boulevard.
I looked around at the people around me. There was a sprinkling of locals, those who had driven into town, and people like me, who had come from distant lands. Couples held each other close, families huddled together. And the children in prams, were not sleep and cranky anymore.
And suddenly, almost magically, under the night sky lit up by fairy lamps - Gay men kissing each other, didn't bother me. Neither did the Arab tourist with his retinue of wives and children. The war in Lebanon, felt like a story concocted by the media.
Geneva calls itself - the city where people meet. And for fifteen minutes, those thousands of people, with different languages, religions and color of skin, magically and almost in the most serendipitous kind of way, came to embody the essence of "The United Nations" much more than a building across town would ever be able to.
P.S. Across the lake, Montreux, is known as the Swiss Riviera. In 1971, while Frank Zappa was strutting his stuff, the Montreux Casino caught fire, casting a pall of smoke over Lake Geneva. This inspired Deep Purple's classic song "Smoke on the water, Fire in the sky."
