Memories from the past

Notre Dame (meaning in English, Our Lady)

April 16, 2019: My heart bleeds at the news that a devastating fire is gutting the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Just about a couple of months earlier, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit this majestic shrine and witness its original grandeur.

My thoughts and feelings at that moment:

Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the holiest shrines in the Christianity and a historic landmark in human’s journey to the present-day civilization.

A lot of personal memories instantly flashed through my mind. I have been watching in speechless horror the live telecast from the BBC and the CNN showing how the fire was still engulfing the majestic structure with no sign of respite. I stayed connected to CNN with a gaping mouth: https://www.cnn.com/…/live-news/notre-dame-fire/index.html

I remembered my several visits to Paris and neighbouring regions, since 1979 until 2021, on business and pleasure trips. But most of all, my extended stay close to that area, the place called La Defense during 1999-00, developed a special tie in mind with Paris. Every time when I was in Paris, I visited some of my favorite sites there – Notre Dame (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 nights. I had seen her in different moods and lights. The serenity and the sense of purity surrounding the environment always mesmerized me. I had lit candles inside the cathedral and made sincere wishes for peace and welfare of the world though I had never been a religious person.

The last time my wife and I visited the shrine was in Feb last year (Two months before the fire – some scaffoldings for regular maintenance and repair works were in place) when we had taken a few photographs of this awesome monument in the fading light of the overcast cold evening (photography in the prayer hall inside the church was forbidden). I treasured those fond memories and am watching them now and praying in silence for the blaze to douse quickly. Sorry, I couldn’t resist pouring out some of my personal feelings and emotions here as I pen this note. Kumares

* Two of the pictures are from the Internet
** As I was pouring out my bleeding heart, BBC reported about a week later that the fire was finally extinguished.