Fire gutted the historic Notre Dame Cathedral

My heart bleeds at the devastating news of a horrific fire gutting down Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, one of the greatest landmarks and records of the march of mankind. A lot of personal memories flashed instantly thru’ my mind. I have been watching in speechless horror the live broadcast from the BBC and the CNN showing how the fire is still gutting down the majestic structure with no sign of respite. A few links are here to follow: https://www.cnn.com/live-news/notre-dame-fire/index.html

I had a short stint with Paris in 1999-00 living close to the area and since ’79 until recently, I have visited Paris numerous times. Every time, I had visited some of my most favorite sites there, Notre Dame (in French means, Our Lady) was one of them. I had visited this shrine at different hours of the day, early morning, morning, mid-day, evening and even late night and had seen her in different moods and lights. The serenity and the sense of purity surrounding the environ mesmerised me every time. I had lit candles inside the cathedral and made sincere wishes though I had never been a religious person. The last time my wife and I visited was in Feb last year, we had taken photographs of this awesome monument (photography inside forbidden) and treasured those fond memories. Now, we have been watching them in silence and praying for the blaze to extinguish quickly.
Sorry for sharing my personal emotions, couldn’t check myself.
Kumaresh
Some pix from the Internet
** (A piece of good news this morning: As I finish pouring out my mind, BBC reports the fire is finally doused)