Paris in Pixels

A train ride from Barcelona to the Paris Gar de Lyon, is a long one. Even though we Bangladeshis are used to spending hours on the streets of Dhaka to get to Motijheel from Gulshan, the 6 hour train ride from Spain to France is quite a long one for Europeans.

Inside the compartments, while families get ready with tabs, snacks and diaper bags occupying a little more than the single seat designated to each traveller, students and travellers bring out books, note pads, coffee mugs or travel pillows to weather the challenges ahead.

Paris reminds one of the way Woody Allen depicted an age old human flaw (or not) in his 'Midnight in Paris' which is – our love for the past. We live in the past, day dream about an era with literature and revolution, of ladies and gentlemen dressed in their bests, frolicking away in bars, coffee shops and grand ball rooms.

One glance and you will find backpackers, sprawled on vibrant sleeping bags on pavements near where the Eiffel Tower is located. As midnight strikes and the lights of the tower are switched on, giving way to squeals of laughter and cheers, the streets come to life, with fire spinners, dancers, mime artists and amateur sitar players.

An eight hour walk inside the Louvre and you find yourself staring at the famous Mona Lisa, created by Da Vinci. "That's no bigger than the poster of Mona Lisa stuck on my bedroom wall," you hear someone quip beside you. But it is all worth it, you tell yourself.

Witnessing such grand heritages, sculptures and paintings which have been around for hundreds of years – when will WE begin to restore, preserve, protect and archive our own artworks and creations, you hear yourself think.