At Geneva - in my sister Chandrika's words....

From the Vatican and Rome, the incomparable spaces of deep religiosity, fabulous sculptures, art and architecture, Achan  and team reached Geneva, in Switzerland, the world  capital of the worldly wealthy on the 30th of November 1968. 

     The contrast between Rome with the ambience and milieu of the vast imaginative limitless horizons of Michel Angelo Buonarroti’s universe compared to the architectural elegance in the spiritual seat of Christianity   and Geneva, with its concrete global hub of super affluent business and technology is, to put it mildly, downright staggering. While Achan, with his exposure to the Western culture, would have been delightfully curious and contented to affirm his knowledge, Amma’s astonishment would have had no boundaries. To imbibe and live those contrasting spaces of dissimilar elegance, condensed in a lightning visit, must have absolutely dazed all four of them..

     The umbilical cord - a picture postcard from Rome labeled 29th of November,1968 -revealed the next lap of their journey - to Geneva. The khaki clad postman’s arrival with this simple missive was welcomed by a shout of excitement. In the general remue-menage I hastened to open the atlas, and voilà … the graphic display of their timeline!!! Rome to Geneva. In the discussion that followed, Valliamma, the grand old lady of Manjapra Variam - Mom’s eldest sister and our guardian Angel, widowed at a tender age but nonetheless ably brought up her brood of six sons and a daughter, enabling them to reach the pinnacle of their career, be it as an officer in the Indian Civil Service or a scientist at the Max Planck institute in Germany - chipped in with her knowledge base putting me often to shame  !!! Valliamma having been the anchor, a slip of a girl in a simple cotton skirt and blouse reading the English Newspaper, The Hindu, in the late forties and early fifties, to an audience of innumerable brothers and uncles living together in the matrilineal family home, on a little step, at the door to the verandah, shown here.

The discussions that ensued probably helped her gather information and over the years her demeanor hid a treasure house of practical knowledge. A simple picture postcard, Achan’s new routine and the germ of these memoirs... we were overwhelmed.

At 10 o’clock, the 30th November, 1968… Au revoir… no,  Adieu .... to Rome, the Trevi fountain et al - and Bienvenue to the Jet d’eau  the mechanical one on the Leman Lake, Geneva! A sojourn of just two days there, and Paris was going to welcome them for a three days’ scheduled visit though visits to French dams did prolong their stay to 10 days. Hats off to Achan for making changes in their itinerary without a single hitch!! I was supposed to have written to Paris… so says the postcard… but my memory fails!!

There, on the shores of the lake, the Engineers marvel at the beauty covering the mechanism of the epic and episodic fountain which rises to the heavens and a cool sight to witness! It was not yet the official logo of the UEFA Euro football matches of 2008, but its significance is its being the metaphor for Geneva! Trevi or Jet d’éau  - springs of  water quenching the thirst of their respective citizens.. the Dam engineers did have a barrage of questions!!

   A week away from home now, having crossed two continents with different hues, fragrances and flavours, the team’s  feeling of  rising nostalgia seems to reflect in the description of the  spread of the sumptuous Indian/ Kerala ambalavasi  spread laid out by  the elegant hosts  -  Mrs  and Mr. C. B. Kumar.  The visit to their place would have been an eye opener to my parents. For Amma, it was the first time she stood witness to the life of a Keralite NRI family and to freely talk and understand the shifts in mentality and practice that one has to make to reside in a foreign country!  

 Mr. Kumar, being the Secretary in the Textile section of the International Labour Organization (the ILO) had been posted in Geneva since 1946. In the wake of the Second World War its a certainty that he witnessed a lot of international turmoil. This small built individual with a big Benz Car, a Fellow of the London School of Economics, used to be an epitome of a simple and refined individual of the Keralite Ambalavasi (temple employees) culture though living so far away from home.. in those days “far”is far in distance and communication!!! The fragrance of his refinement reflected in him playing a generous host, personally taking them around, and even shooting pictures for them as they posed. Achan and Amma later narrated Mr. Kumar’s recounting of life in Geneva spiced up with history, imagination and real happenings!!!

    Amma’s general knowledge bloomed like the mushroom cloud in Geneva, the most livable city apart from only Zurich and known as the “Capital of Peace”.  It would seem from her postures in the snaps where she is holding her head high, undoubtedly with pride in being there with her lord and master, that her confidence too was gaining momentum.

    As the itinerary included visits to a few of the headquarters of major international organizations out of a total of 22 there, Amma had the extremely rare and fabulous chance to be photographed in front of them; this time along with Achan, courtesy Mr. C.B.Kumar – significantly, the World Health Organization, that of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Office: and of course, the Palace of Nations, the erstwhile American President  Woodrow Wilson’s dream, today the seat of the United Nations dedicated to International Peace Keeping and so “a monument to peace” in the lap of the Mont Blanc. 

   While flying over the Alps, gazing out of the air plane window the view of the Mont Blanc the highest peak in the Alps, prompted Achan to capture it on his camera. Oh not a good shot ?   Not doing justice to the Mont Blanc? Oh well, brain wave!  He attaches a beautiful post card of the same in his album!