Versailles, France....by K J S Chatrath

 

 

My memory going back two decades....................by K.J.S.Chatrath

 

This was two decades back. In 2005 I was climbing up to visit the famous Delphi temple in Greece. There was a thin crowd of some people going up and some coming down. Suddenly I heard people talking in, yes in French! It was a group of 5 people coming down. I was amused to see the way one pretty young lady amongst them was carrying her baby. It reminded me of how women in India carry their kids.

 

The lady was pretty, as you would notice. But I was more interested in the little kiddo than in the pretty woman. Incidentally the French have a very sweet way of calling a baby- be'be', pronounced as bey-bey. 

 

At first I hesitated but then quickly made up my mind and wished the group in my broken French and then asked the young lady if I could take a photo of her carrying the be'be'. Some of us believe, and quite wrongly, that the French are snooty. This lady proved that the French are sweet when she said yes with a big smile. She told me that the little boy was comfortably asleep. Then she, on her own, moved a few steps away from her group and posed for me. 

 

Seeing this photo now brought back the memory and I suddenly wondered how that be'be', now a 20 year old young man must be looking like today.