The Summer Solstice

Here I was in France again, this time in summer and on some new pretext. The summer in France, though the most popular part of the year, some how does not excite me. Of course it is nice, bright and cheerful, and the sun almost refuses to set in - there is light all around till 11 p.m. But when the temperature crosses 30 degrees Celsius with no provision for air conditioning in the living spaces - not even the lowly fans - one starts remembering the heat of India. An Indian does not go to Europe to be confronted with the warm weather like back home!

This was the kind of weather when I decided to take a conducted tour to the South of France. I had been to this part of France earlier but had somehow missed Nice and Monaco and here was a trip which promised to fill in this gap. After an overnight bus trip from Paris, we reached Nice (pronounced ‘niece’) on the 21^st of June in the morning. That is the day of the “summer solstice” in the Northern Hemisphere which marks the gradual lengthening of the nights and shortening of the days. We were told that since the hotel rooms would be available only from noon, we could take a walk on the seaside road. It was almost uncomfortably warm, even though one was on the sea side. Ultimately we reached hotel rooms around noon. At the reception we were told that it was the day of the ‘Fete de la Musique’ or the Annual Music Festival where there would be free public performances in various parks and open spaces starting from the evening.

At the first sign of sun slightly setting in, I was on the road towards the part of the city where the biggest event was slated to be held. On nearing the venue one found scores of people, young, the not so young and the old moving towards the park. The roads were, as usual full of cars but the police force was out in full numbers. For reaching the park one had to cross the road with the heaviest traffic. I waited patiently at the traffic light to cross the road. And then I saw a stunningly beautiful lady cop. She was in the prescription blue dress with a cap perched on her head at a very stylish angle. When the lights turned amber and then red, suddenly this charming cop jumped to the middle of the road, put her hands on her waist and faced the traffic daring and forcing the cars to stop at once, while one of her male colleagues signaled the pedestrians to cross the road. I watched her spellbound forgetting to cross the road. And the lights turned green. This beauty glided back to the side walk near to where I was standing and I had a closer look at her. She was not thin or skinny but looked radiantly healthy and cheerful. One has seen women in various stages of dress and undress but this fully clad young lady possessed a rare charm and was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She seemed to be totally engrossed in her responsibilities and what is more fully enjoying the job. I stood there as if in a trance till the lights changed colour again. This time I was conscious of the fact that I was to cross the road. But I just could not move so spellbound was I of that lady. After two more change of lights, when she would jump into the middle of the road and then come back to where I was standing, I noticed her looking at me quizzically. That was the time when I was fumbling with my camera wanting to take her photo. Her look made me nervous. We are used to fearing the police and a look, a gaze, even though friendly, and even though from a lady cop makes us nervous. I feared the thought of her jealous and perhaps over-zealous male colleagues coming to her side and taking me to my first visit to a French Police station. So hastily, though quite unwillingly, I crossed the road.

I few years later, I had the opportunity to visit the Arctic Circle and be at the northern most human habitation on the globe North Cape in Norway on another June 21. There I saw the strange spectacle of sun shining brightly at 12 at night. That are is aptly called “The Land of the Midnight Sun”.

I promise to write about that visit and share my photographs next year on June 21- if by then the inevitable has not overtaken me.