About two months ago, in the middle of all the assignments that I was supposed to do, I received an invitation. It was an invitation to spend Christmas with Steven and his family, on the condition that I didn’t have anything better to do. This simple invitation was a breath of fresh air from all the reports and psychologist appointments. And of course, there is nothing better during Christmas in France, than to spend it with a normal French family.
I had, thus, booked my tickets well in advance, to go to Drome on Christmas weekend. I ensured that I finished all my obligations before the vacations began so as to have no work now, and I succeeded! The French railway system had different plans for me though.
I was supposed to take the train on Friday evening at 5 pm – so I arrived well in advance. As it turned out, the train was 30 minutes late. Anyhow, I arrived at the station with some time to kill, so I called my parents. This delay of 30 minutes turned into 40 minutes, which turned into 50 minutes! I started getting a little annoyed and to break the heat my parents joked saying that India and France weren’t that different after all.
While I appreciated the effort, I was getting a little concerned regarding the train, so I said goodbye to them and stood near the screen. In a sadistic manner, it felt reassuring to see other people stressing out because of the train too. It is much easier when you see other people facing the same problems that you do – you feel less alone. And thus, I got to know Madeline and Benoit. Their destination was Lyon, on the same train that I was supposed to take. They came to me and asked if I was waiting for the 17704 and if I had any updates on my tickets. I responded, “yes and no”. They took a few seconds to understand my response and we all giggled.
At this point, Steven called me asking for updates and I didn’t have any. He told me that there were railway strikes that day. Serendipitously, there was an announcement that happened which asked all passengers for the train to Lyon to get on another train and get out at Miramas to change there. I told Steven that I will keep him updated as things develop.
Meanwhile, Madeline, Benoit, and I were totally confused, walking towards this other train we were now supposed to board. It was fun in a weird way because no one knew what was going on and everyone was making fun of the situation. One lady said, “I don’t know any of you but I guess I am spending my Christmas with you guys this year”, and started eating her sandwich. Everyone there laughed. That lady ended up not spending her Christmas with us, not with me at least, as far as I am concerned.
Hopefully, Madeline and Benoit reached Lyon that night, I’ll never know. I finally reached Steven’s place with his friends. We caught up and had pizza for dinner. That night, Moumouche, the cuddly cat, slept beside me and on occasion licked my hair.
I won’t bother recounting the banalities of the following day in detail – we went to the small village of Sauzet to walk around, I was taken aback by the smoke coming out of the Centrale Nucléare over in the adjacent department of Ardèche which you could see even in Drome.
That afternoon, we went to explore the abandoned village of Roynac. During the Middle Ages, this village was atop a hill, the ramshackle ruins of which are still somewhat conserved. But once humans became lazier, or to put it more gently, there was lesser of a need to climb to the mountains on an everyday basis, the whole village shifted to the foot of the hill, where the new Roynac is situated.
We then went to eat the Christmas dinner with Steven’s family. I don’t even remember how many courses of food we had that night on Christmas eve – it was way too much. I just remember that I had to go on multiple washroom rounds to empty my belly so that more food could enter. The star of the show was the Gratin Dauphinois. I am biassed because it is a local dish from that region, and local food is always the best.
The main highlight of my Christmas this year, however, was eating a snail! I had thought that this moment would never come in my life but I finally gave in. I also had oysters, which were definitely much less ‘exotic’ than a snail!
I am glad I didn’t spend Christmas alone this year.
Really like the pictures. Glad you were able to enjoy Christmas.