So I am IN Paris, FOR my PhD, IN Sciences Po. And did I go to Louvre or Musée d'Orsay, or any other museum? Did I attend any of the umpteen things happening on Cite Universitaire, my residence campus and a world in itself? Well, except for a couple of talks, no. And no for the museums also. In my defence, I was thoroughly sick in the first month and have always been swimming, na, drowning in existential angst since the beginning of the second leg of my academic journey some three years ago. And it was cold and depressing before and bright and springtime-lethargic now (Google says it is a thing). As for cultural activity, I watched the Malayalam movie 'Empuraan', something I wouldn't do if not for the right-wing controversy and scene-cuts happening back in India. I got to see the uncut version in its second week because, well, this isn't India. It's extremely disturbing, to say the least, to watch and feel the hate on social media. A fortnight ago, I went for a protest on Sciences Po campus for Palestine and then read about a Columbia university student being deported for doing something similar. It's all becoming increasingly incongruous. I constantly worry about my studies and disproportionately work towards alleviating it. And that worry, combined with this worry, and my nasty habit of infusing unsavoury bits from my past into the already cloudy liquid results in a toxic concoction that makes me want to gaze longingly at aeroplanes crisscrossing the Paris skyscape and wonder when am I to touch land, literally and figuratively. Wish I could drop something intelligent-sounding, commensurating with PhD et al., but can't because I am still at jardine (garden) Luxembourg clicking orange poppies with my mobile phone though my seminar is to start in a short while. I think that's enough visual clue for how things are. Maybe next time. Thumbs up emoji.
