PARIS

Hi, I am back to share some more of my travel accounts. While going through my photo albums recently, I came across my Paris- trip pics and, immediately, decided to write about my Paris trip. My recently concluded trip of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer can wait.

This time, I will elaborate, about various places through my picture album/slide show. I feel it will make an interesting and illustrative journey.

Allow me to take you on a trip through the awe-inspiring city of Paris. Here, I will briefly elaborate on the must-see sites of the city, and let my slide-show do the rest.

Paris can be divided into five imaginary zones – Old city, new Paris of today, Right/north bank of Seine, Left/south bank and working class Paris.

Old Paris has survived its charm despite the ravages of time, innumerable wars and revolutions. At the same time new projects and redevelopment in recent times have added charisma to the city. The Right and left parts of the city are situated on the two sides of the river Seine.

The capital city is abundant with ancient buildings and monuments that have witnessed not only several battles and revolutions but also the two mightiest of wars ever waged in world history.

One has several options of transport to choose for sight-seeing. Most popular are bus tours, for a two-to-four days’ stay, and the bookings can be done either online through their websites in advance or at one of their bus stops instantly.Before doing booking, please compare the route followed, bus-stops, fare and other features offered by different tour operators and decide on the one that best suits your schedule. Their buses ply on fixed routes and there is an audio guide to inform you about the monuments you see to your left or right while sitting in the bus. You can get down at various tourist sites, see the place at your own pace, come back and take the next available bus of the same tour operator. Cool!

When in Paris, one must also experience the joys of cycling. The city first introduced its bike rental scheme in Aug’2007. `Paris’s Velib’ or freedom bike scheme turned cycling into a fad instantly. `The Velib’ or the `Velorution’ added Paris to the league cycling pioneers like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and Lyon. These bikes are excellent in quality and environmental-friendly. (Refer pic for more info)

Besides, one must also make a cruise trip of Seine River, as the river has twenty one beautiful bridges connecting two halves of the city. These bridges were built at different times as the city and its needs grew. Moreover, it offers a scenic view of the major tourist spots that lie on its banks.

It is always better to hire an audio guide wherever it is available.

Old Paris will basically be the major consideration of a tourist’s agenda as it offers many historical sites which are architecturally very grand, viz.-

 Notre-dame cathedral-The symbol of Gothic Paris, it was founded by Bishop Maurice in 1163 and took200 years to complete. Its huge size was unmatched until other cathedrals were built in 1230. It was damaged during the Revolution and its gothic status was restored post 1845. In 1991, it was declared a Unesco World Heritage site.

One must obtain the brochure available at the site to fully understand and appreciate the layout of the structure. Specially look for- Chimeras, finial, Belfry and the Great Bell (the largest bell with the deepest sound), chalices, cups and crosses. The visit requires an hour on an average. If you choose to ascend the towers (400 steps and no lift), be sure you are very healthy.

P.S. Victor Hugo’s famous novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, published in 1831, was a huge success as it coincided with a general interest in the medieval monuments at that time. Later, another book, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown evoked the curiosity of visitors in the Pyramid at the Louvre, museum itself and the Mona Lisa, in particular and the Notre Dame.

 The saint-Chapel- A 13th century chapel today, is surrounded by other contrasting modern building complexes.

 The Palais-Royal

 The Louvre Museum and The Pyramid – The Grand Louvre Complex is the largest complex of museums in the world today. Minimum time one needs to even look around the whole place is one day; for genuine art connoisseurs, sky is the limit.

 The Vendome – the square with the central column

 The Pompidou centre – A modern structure situated in the heart of the old Paris and surrounded by old buildings.

 The town Hall – A fairly accurate reconstructed building after the original was burnt down during the Paris Commune of 1871.

The Left bank has-

 The Invalides – In addition to the invalides Hospital, it has the Monsart Dome with Napoleans tomb and Military office and museum.

 The Sorbon Quadrangle and the Sorbon Chapel – The University site

 The Odeon Theatre

 The Pantheon – The church of Saint Genevieve, now the resting place of Victor Hugo and Jean Moulin

 The pond in the Luxembourg Gardens – One of the principal attractions for children

 The Observatory – Built in 17th century, the Paris meridian cuts through the exact centre of the building whose four sides are oriented to face the four directions.

 The Montparnasse Tower – This is a conspicuously visible high-rise modern structure in an otherwise city of low-rise buildings.

 The National Assembly

 The Eiffel Tower – This name is now synonymous with Paris

 The Saint Sulpice Church – It has some paintings and sculptures by famous painters and sculptors.

 The Jardin Park and the Maze – A garden on a hilly ground with a spiral promenade and a complicated sundial with the cheery inscription, ``I count only the happy times”.

 Roman Thermal Baths and The Cluny Museum

 The Senate and its gardens – Originally a palace built for Catherine de’medici, resembling the Pitti Palace in her native Florence.

Right Bank – Has considerably more recent buildings than those of the Old Paris. To the south of the Triumphal Way which passes through the Triumph arch, it extends to the areas having restaurants, sports arenas and grand avenues.

 The Triumph Arc and The Triumph way

 The Concorde – one of the finest squares of the city with its famous obelisks

 The Grand Palais and the Petit Palais – the central place for the 1900’s World’s fair and many other famous exhibitions, these palaises are very ornate.

 The Russian Church- a five- domed Russian Orthodox church

 The Opera Garnier

 The Trocadero Palace – Built more recently for world exhibitions, this place now houses several museums and is also noted for the quotes from Paul Valery carved on its walls.

 North-eastern Paris of the working class – Built largely on a hilly terrain, this part is more of historical importance compared to the remaining city which mainly boasts of architectural excellence.

 The Gare De Lyon – a 210-feet high clock tower is a monument to the great era of railways.

 The Opera Batille and The July Column

 The Sacre-Ceor Church at Montmartre

 The Pere-Lachaise Cemetery – This final resting place of innumerable celebrities has become an open air museum of funerary art due to diverse styles of the tombs made over centuries.

The New Paris – This part was basically developed much after the World War II. The new and modern constructions and renovation and redevelopment of some of the earlier structures are now favourite landmarks of the city.

tHE mAD mAD wORLD OF mEDICINE

Dedicated To The....

``Mumbai is not the right place to fall sick,” announced my friend while introducing me to the city. It left me confused. I thought to myself, ``is there a right place to fall sick? Why on earth would anyone like to fall sick, anywhere?" When I asked her what she meant by that, she just waved it aside saying that I would understand when I would have my first encounter with a doctor in Mumbai. So far, I had only heard of encounters between Mumbai police and underworld gangsters, but an encounter with a doctor? Sounded strange! When I voiced my thoughts to my friend, she told me that the doctors were as good (rather bad) as gangsters in extorting money from their victims (oops... patients) because their charges were exorbitant and simply unaffordable.

The day was not far when I actually had to see a doctor, after settling down in Mumbai. At the appointed time, I reached the clinic with some apprehension. While in the waiting/reception area, I broke into a conversation with other patients. I was dismayed to learn that the doctor had given the same time-slot to three more patients! ``This doctor must be very competent and busy,” I tried to convince myself and people around me. ``Nothing of that sort,” said one of my co-patients (who shared the appointment time with me). ``Most of the doctors do this to create this impression of being in great demand.”

After waiting for an hour, I was called in. I was impressed by the very clean and hygienic look inside, I must admit. One gets to see such sterile look only in movies. I was asked to sit. Expecting questions about my condition and ailment, I was taken aback when the doctor began with, ``who referred you to me?”

I was startled and before I could gather my senses, pat came the next question, ``Are you working?”

``Yes, of course. I am a housewife. I slog 24/7 hours to look after my family.”

``In that case, where does your husband work?” he asked blatantly, without appreciating or sympathising with me on my work conditions.

I gave a puzzled look, as I wondered what relation my husband’s job had with my condition.

He added quickly, ``I mean whether in a public sector or a private company etc., and whether you get your bills reimbursed.”

I had to tell him, albeit reluctantly, that my husband was a banker. Finally, the `doctor’ somewhere within him woke up and he enquired about my health and condition.

As I started off with my list of problems, I noticed that the doctor was least attentive to me and was vigorously jotting something down. He had prescribed me a long list of medicines and a couple of lab tests before I had finished!

I asked, “Am I to go for the tests first?”

``Hmmm. You can start the medicines right away; go for the tests at your convenience. But you must undergo these tests, just in case....” he left me nervous at the complexity of my disease.

At the reception, the lady had already prepared a receipt-cum-bill for a handsome amount. Having parted with the amount, I left the clinic with a heavy heart and a lighter purse. On my way back home I pondered as to how the receptionist knew that I would ask for a receipt for the payment made, as my husband was enititled to get a part of such medical expenditure reimbursed from his employers. What the doctor was inquiring in his cabin, made sense to me now and presented a perfect picture of telepathy between him and his receptionist.

After a few days, I had to take my younger daughter to a dentist. An old filling had come off and needed to be redone. The dentist examined my daughter’s teeth and uttered something, which sounded quite alarming and compounded my fear and premonition that my daughter was in for a long course of treatment. Although the doctor sounded quite sympathetic towards the patient, the expression on his face didn’t quite reflect that. To me, he appeared quite thrilled and ready for his kill. For a while, I thought that I was becoming too suspicious by nature. But my fears came true as I was explained an elaborate treatment plan. After a treatment covering ten to twelve sittings and stretching over a period of five weeks, I came to know that the doctor had gone to Europe on a holiday tour, leaving my daughter high and dry in the middle of her treatment with a few freshly dug openings and canals, not unlike BMC leaving dug pot holes and roads before the onset of monsoon. Anyway, it was a much needed commercial break for the doctor ((literally). My daughter is a sweet, charming and accommodating person. Though not endowed with a very good set of teeth which can launch a thousand toothbrushes of all shapes and sizes and toothpastes of all hues of a rainbow, she’ll nevertheless have a `million dollar’ smile by the time she leaves the clinic or Mumbai, whichever happens first.

My elder daughter, who is a computer graduate, suffers from recurring bouts of backache. Recently, I took her to one of the city’s leading orthopaedic surgeons. The reception room had a portable TV mounted on a wall just below the ceiling, to entertain waiting patients. It was placed at such a convenient (or strategic?) height that everyone was able to watch the TV, but only by giving a slight twist to one’s neck. By the time my daughter went in for consultation, I had a stiff and sprained neck. I had no option but to take an appointment for myself too. What an idea!(Sir ji). The long list of degrees, the doctor held to his credit, looked like an anagram of the English alphabet to me. I could decipher only two of his degrees. One was MD to `ensnare’ prospective patients! And the last in the list but not the least was an MBA! (That explained the position of TV set). When I narrated this incident to one of my friends, she told me of the innovative ways pursued by some doctors to manage substantial turnover of patients.

Everyone knows how the smallest ailment, which could best be attended by the family physician in good old days, gets referred to a never ending chain of specialists nowadays.

The veterinary doctors are not far behind in the pursuit of this unholy wealth accumulation. A friend of mine had a pet dog. One day, the poor dog just collapsed. My friend took the dog to its regular veterinary doctor to confirm its death. The doctor put the dog on the examination table and went inside for a while. He came out holding a cat in his arms. The vet left the cat on the table and it walked over the dog’s body. The dog did not move. The doctor thereafter proclaimed that the dog was dead and apologised to my friend for his inability to save the poor creature. At this moment of grief, my friend asked the doctor with hesitation whether she had to pay some money.

The doctor said, ``Yes ma’am, you may pay rupees three thousand and five hundred only.

``Rupees three thousand and five hundred?” asked my bewildered friend.

The doctor confirmed, ``Yes, rupees five hundred as my fees and three thousand for the cat-scan!

Note: All characters except the dog and the writer of the article are fictitious and any resemblance in real life to any doctor or patient is purely coincidental!