Morning alarm, 600km daily train ride & American influence in Chateauroux

“Even now some donate money,” she said. The info board reveals the story more candidly. “Young French girls love the big American cars and their seductive drivers with cigarettes, chewing gum and dollars. Moreover, at this time many mixed marriages would be celebrated in the Indre region,” said the display board.

The chewing gum packets, the uniforms, iconic Zippo lighters, and whiskeys were on display at the museum. Chateauroux does have an American touch.

Opening Ceremony blues

Paris had organised the first ever open-air Opening Ceremony. They brought out the mesmerising first act of the Games on the river Seine. Covering it would be spectacular too and of course unprecedented. Umm; wait it was almost spectacular but in a different sense. Because it is a high-demand event, each of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are allotted a fixed number of seats, both tabled and non-tabled. India, too, were allotted, which were distributed among the journalists. This person was allotted a non-tabled seat.

Such an Opening Ceremony was new to everyone. So getting a non-tabled seat in a stadium is fine. No one knew how it would turn out. For the three who have been given these SEATS, it turned out to be a wild adventure. It was on the other side of Seine (where the ceremony would begin). Six kilometres down it would end. As soon as we reached the non-tabled seat, there was no seat but an embankment, we realised that it was not the place to be. Close to the bridge of Bastille, that’s the only historical landmark of the city visible.

We had to be in front of the Eiffel Tower. If the athletes traversed the city on Seine, this diarist travelled on different kinds of underground ‘Metropolitan’ through a maze of tunnels until we reached Victor Hugo. A long walk took us closer to the Seine and the Eiffel.

Just when everything seemed fine, the sky opened up. With the deadline looming, writing articles was the priority. Finding an entrance to an apartment, all sat to write. A little while later, a man came and said it was a private property, in a highly respectful manner. The next destination was under a window ledge of the higher floors.

It was pouring and three journalists were under one umbrella for more than three hours. It reminded one of that family planning ad.

Invoking the spirits

Minutes before Nishant Dev stepped into the ring here on Wednesday night, quite a few people were walking towards the Paris North Arena holding the national flag. A tall middle-aged man was leading the pack and looked merry with the tricolour wrapped around his body. There was a married couple, a young boy, and another middle-aged man in the mix. The young boy was almost Nishant’s age. After a brief conversation, it was clear that they were Nishant’s family members. They are here to support him.

A younger-looking person pointed towards the tall man in his early fifties and said that he was Nishant’s father. There were seven, eight of them. They reached Paris a day before Nishant’s event and were due to stay back until the end of his campaign. Superstition and belief are two invisible hands that keep earth moving. The mother did not come. Strange, but Pawan said it was her choice.