GOOD BYE 2022 A YEAR OF GRATITUDE LET US FORGET GENTLY THOSE WHO CANNOT LOVE US

 SONATA WITH SOME PINE TREES BY PABLO NERUDA 

PABLO NERUDA: Sonata with Some Pine Trees

In the half-sun of long days
let us draw our tired bones together

let us forget the unfaithful ones
the unfeeling friends

the sun wavers among the pine trees
let us forget those who are unaware

there are lands within the land
small uncared-for countries

let us not think of the happy ones
let us forget their false teeth

let the sensitive ones sleep
on their fine feather beds

you have to know particular stones
full of layers and secrets

to rise with the greening light
with the despair of trains

and touch that crust of the world
which always travelled with us

let us forget the one who is hurt
who feeds on a single setback

the trees above leave open
a half-circle criss-crossed

with wires of pine and shadow
with the air shredding its leaves

let us forget with generosity
those who cannot love us

those who look for fire and fall
like us into oblivion

there is nothing better than
early morning at the sea-foam

a dog approaches and smells the sea
suspicious of the water

all the time the waves keep arriving
dressed in white for school

there is a tang of sun and salt
and from the mortuary of the seaweed
rises the smell of birth and decay

what justifies not being?
where did other people take you?

it is good to have a change of clothes
of skin of hair of work

to get to know the earth a little
to give your woman new kisses

to be part of the clear air
to disdain all oligarchies

when I went from fog to fog
navigating by my hat

I never found anyone with directions
they were all preoccupied

they were all off to sell things
nobody asked me who I was

till I got to recognizing myself
till I set off a smile

in the half sky and warp of branches
let us make peace with our tiredness

let us have a talk with roots
and with disenchanted waves

let us forget about hurry
the teeth of the efficient

let us forget the shadowy
miscellany of those who wish us ill

let us make a profession of being earth-bound
let us touch the earth with our beings.

A  few moments to reflect before the arrival of 2023 .

Time to be thankful

tonight is no more a special moment to be thankful but at this liminal hour when 2022 has made its departure, let us be thankful .

some had to say good bye, some lovers slithered away and new friends brought the noise of their closeness to wake me up from the slumber of comfortable amnesia in the land where freedom of choice means whether to choose D

elmonte tomato sauce or Heinz!

Should I thank the owner of Riad 58 Blu in Marrakech? and the concierge who introduced me to my hair dresser?

The country that comforted me the most was/is IRAN, where i admire the courage of the women ..

was happy to be able to go back to Cochin and once again the Innkeeper at Travancore Court was more than helpful.

Malaysia KL so intertwined with my life that I feel I am a part of that town. The Executive Lounge team was more than gracious.

The list goes on and on .. One has to lead a grateful life..

and within a few minutes the knock on the door will get louder

Please let me in, would plead 2023

Let us forget with generosity those who cannot love us, thank you Pablo.

but welcome those who can love us..

There are 32 words in the Persian language to describe SMILE and so there must be at least 32 ways to feel ones love or receive love from lovers.

Cuba the entire country is made up of love 

It is amazing to think that there are people one keeps in touch with almost on a daily basis 

they may live near, may live far or in another continent

I have enjoyed that connection ...

France I thank you Morocco I thank you 

Hafez  lots of thanks 

“When shall I get to kiss thee?’ I asked.
‘By all means you can forever ask,’ she answered.
‘Your lips ask a heavy price,’ I said.
‘It’s a fair exchange of one so fair,’ she said.
‘What lips are worthy for your mouth and lips?’ I asked.
‘Only the discerning can this secret know,’ she answered.
‘Don’t worship idols, be with the Truth,’ I said.
‘In the Way of Love, both are allowed,’ she said.
I said, ‘The tavern helps to heal the heart.’
‘Blessed are those who heal the lonely heart,’ she answered.
‘It’s not religion, the priestly robe, the wine,’ I said.
‘But to the gnostic both lead to the Divine,’ she answered.
‘What use to an old man of youthful lips?’ I asked.
‘By such sweet kissing, he grows young!’ she answered.
‘When shall the bridegroom embrace the bride?’
‘When the stars are that way inclined.’
I said, ‘The prayer of Hafiz is for His glory.’
‘This is the prayer of angels too, in heaven,’ she answered.”
― Hafiz Shirazi

YALDA THE LONGEST NIGHT . LET LIGHT TRIUMPH OVER DARKNESS, IN IRAN AND IN AFGHANISTAN ..INDONESIA ..THE LIST IS LONG

 Tonight is 21 december .. it is the night of Yalda ..

 It is the longest night, full of darkness and this morning when young women went to their universities in Kabul, turbaned men with beard and machine guns told them that Taliban has decided that Girls will no longer be educated beyond primary schools. Do you know anything darker than that ? 

On this long night, I am in a house tranquil beyond words and the night outside shows a few stars 

There is no breeze 

IRAN is in my mind 

as it has been every day ( and many a nights) for the past ten years and before then sporadically going back to the day in my childhood  when my father told me what a beautiful language Persian was ..

Tonight is Yalda 

Iran is filling my heart 

It is not the mountains or the deserts (that i fly over on Qatar Airways) or the incredible beauty of its nature and monuments, but my connection to Iran is HUMAN.. 

and tonight it is HAFEZ ..

If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning, we read in our prayer books about the eternal capital of our people even at the time when Yalda began to be celebrated (some even suggested that Zoroastrians were afraid on this night because they distrusted darkness)..

To me on this Yalda night, the tranquility afforded me the busy entrance and performance of words of HAFEZ.. It was not to be a night to be alone.. My heart was filled with souls from IRAN..

so much Hafez tonight and I thank all of you, in any part of this universe for interpreting the words of Hafez for me 

not only the literary interpretations of the words but also what those words PERSONIFY in each and every one of you ..

As we say, you may be surprised to know, in ISRAEL, WE LOVE YOU IRAN..

On BBC this morning I heard the crackling voice of a young lady who left her family in Kabul  and went to Iran so that she can continue her studies.

I have eaten well today

Gourmet food, delicious fish, tasty sauce, brussels sprouts, broccoli. I helped myself to a glass of a soft on the palate , sauvignon blanc from New Zealand/Aotearoa.

It is a custom to read HAFEZ and ask questions and interpret his answers. I believe in this form of divination (adivinacion in spanish)..

I have been filled with HAFEZ tonight and here are some of his words ..

Today is 31 december 2022 and eager to bid farewell to a year already limping and welcome the freshness of the new year 2023. Everything in our minds right ?

Still thinking of Hafez..

Oh Janan, absent from sight, I have entrusted you to God; You burned my life and set fire to my life, but despite this, I love you with all my heart and soul. It means that I am in love with you and no matter how much I suffer from you, I will never get bored of you, whether you are far from me or close to me

Don't believe that I will give up on you until I die. In short, I will not leave your love until I die

Show me the altar of your eyebrows, that is, show me your eyebrows so that I can raise my hands to pray at dawn and pray for you and put my two hands on your neck as a support so that you are away from the evil eye or the evil eye is away from you. That is, in order for you not to comment, I will raise my two hands and pray for you and put them on your neck instead of carrying them.

: To make it possible to meet you, if I am going to Babylon Harot, I will do a hundred kinds of witchcraft to bring you. In short, I will try to meet you in any possible way and I will try hard to bring you, even if I use magic and sorcery, which in itself is an act of disbelief and delusion. That is, if I can't by any means, I will bring you to me through magic. In short, Khwaja expresses his passion by being away from Janan

O unfaithful doctor, I want to die in front of you, ask about this illness of yours that I am waiting for you. It means that my life depends on your visit.

With the hope of planting the seed of love in your heart, from the tears of my eyes, I have blocked the way of a hundred streams of flowing water. It means that lakes are formed from the abundance of crying around me. Hoping that maybe you will see the intensity of my crying and have mercy on me and find affection towards me.

He shed my blood and saved me from the sadness of love, that is, he saved me from the sadness of hijran; And I thank him for that. As a result: I consider killing me and getting rid of Hijran as a kind of blessing for my life.

This verse is a repetition of the theme of the sixth verse, which says: I mean by this flood of tears that I have seen, that by means of it, I will soften your stone heart and plant the seed of love in it.

From your grace and mercy, allow me to come to you, so that I may drop a gem under your feet from the burning of my heart. It means to fall at your feet and shed my tears

ghazal 260

This is Ghazal 260

Oh darling, who is charming in beauty and walks with grace and charm, lovers are always in need of your grace.

May your beautiful face be blessed and happy, as if from the beginning of your creation, the cute and charming domes were cut and sewn especially for your tall stature

Tell the one who desires your sweet smell to burn like incense on a burning fire and make it

The butterfly's heart is burning because of the candle light and in the presence of the candle, but my heart is burning without the candle and your face is also burning

The ascetic Sufi, who had given up wine in your absence, broke her penance the night before as soon as she found the door of the Mikdah open again

The reproach and boasting of the guardians of the beloved Koi will not diminish the value and dignity of my character, even if they crush me like gold in the mouth of a pincer gas.

My heart, which gained knowledge and understanding from walking around the Qiblah of your threshold, do not intend to go to Mecca anymore because of the desire to visit this shrine.

: What is the result of performing ablution and purification with bloody tears continuously? While I am not allowed to pray without the presence of your mihrab

As the wind approaches Sarkhum while foaming, Hafez went to the head of wine after hearing a nice tip from the mouth of the bartender, clappers and revelers the night before.

I swear by the glory of Shah Shoja that I have no quarrel with anyone over worldly wealth and position

I am drunk with homemade wine. Bring me that old wine that Mogh, the leader of the Zoroastrians, pours. My cupmate has come, goodbye companion of repentance

By God, wash my cloak with wine, because I do not smell the good smell of this age and the state of asceticism and piety.

Look, the one who did not allow listening to the instrument is now dancing and stomping to the accompaniment of the musical instruments.

: Thanks to this blessing that you are the sovereign kingdom and I am the obedient servant, take care and attention to the lovers

We are like the thirsty soil and we are looking for a sip from your cup, but we are not overflowing and we are not causing trouble for you.

May God not remove Hafez's forehead and face from the soil of the great Dargah of Shah Shuja

Ghazal No. 292, Hafez explains the reason for the opposition of the poet and his rivals to Shah Shuja and says that the differences are not over worldly wealth and positions, but over beliefs.  Out of love, Hafez swears by the greatness of Shah Shoja and then says that in a situation that does not smell good( bad situations) , Hafez turns to wine with his friends who drink alcohol and avoids hypocritical penitents

The interpretation of this ghazal in my Fal

    You are a person who is satisfied in your life and is not involved in worldly affairs.  Contentment is one of the best assets of a human being.  If the current situation is not to your liking, do not despair.  Life has many ups and downs.  Treasure is not obtained without suffering.  Hear from old friends and treat them kindly.  If you have a request from someone, keep your dignity and personality and wait a little while for him / her to fulfill your requests. 

HAFEZ kept on giving as he has been for all these centuries ..

 Oh, you who talk about love with words and expressions, that is, you express love with words and words, we have nothing to do with you. Go well and in good health. That is, you who express the quality of love with your tongue, while love is present and does not fit into word

 O dervish, don't wail and cry and scream at the sword of your friends, because this tribe of friends takes the ransom from the dead, that is, from the victim. That is, they kill their lovers and then say that our hands are tired of killing you, and with this excuse they take blood from the dead

 Khwaja addresses the same dervish and says: set fire to the cloak, which will break the bend of the butler's eyebrow, the corner of the imam's altar, and destroy it. The result is: the crooked eyebrow of the bartender has attracted all the people of the world and made everyone bow and prostrate before him. From now on, asceticism and piety will be part of Sufism, because where the corner of the butler's eyebrow is, the corner of the mihrab will be ruined, that is, it will defeat the width and dignity of the mihrab, and no one will pay attention to the mihrab.

 Khwaja addresses Janan and says: Far be it from me to moan and complain about your punishment, because the cruelty of the gentle is full of grace and benevolence.

“How

Did the rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All its

Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light

Against its Being.

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too

Frightened”

This is Ghazal 365

 A long time has passed since we have rubbed our faces on the ground out of love and devotion before your feet and we have abandoned showing off and hypocrisy in front of people.

 We have sacrificed the roof and porch of the school and the controversy of knowledge for a glass of wine and a beautiful bartender

We have given our lives to those two droopy witch eyes and our hearts to those two black wigs

 They are better

 A long time has passed and we are still waiting for the corner of Yar's eyebrow to show favor to us.

 We have not taken the country of comfort and safety by force, and we have not established a kingdom by force of arms. It means that everything we have comes from our freedom and chivalry, not power and wealth

 To see what role the beloved charmer's eye plays, we've based our work on her witch's eyes

  As a result of being deprived of the cuteness and charm of her long and long hair, we have put our angry head like a violet on the knee of sorrow.

 In the corner of lonely hope, like those who look at the moon, we have seen our desire to meet the bend of Yar's eyebrow. You asked, O Hafez, where has your confused and wandering heart gone? We have left it in the popular fold and crease breaker

MY BRILLIANT IMAGE

One day the sun admitted,

I am just a shadow.

I wish I could show you the infinite incandescence

That has cast my brilliant image!

I wish I could show you,

When you are lonely or in darkness,

The astonishing Light

Of your own Being!

oh Hafez how blessed are we that descended among the humans to leave such insights for eternity..

( Beloved) with disheveled hair and sweat on her face and a smile on her lips and drunk, in an open and reckless shirt, singing a ghazal and holding a glass of wine.

 Her eyes like a drunken, militant narcissus and her lips mocking (with these moods), she came in the middle of last night and sat on my bed

 She brought her head to my ear and said in a sad (or excited) voice: My old lover, are you sleepy?

 A lover who drank from the hand of Beloved Sahargah Bade; If the fan does not drink wine, then he is ungrateful and denying the religion of love.

: O ascetic, go and leave us and do not find fault with the veteran wind drinkers; Because on the first day, they did not give us anything except wine, and our destiny is eternal.

Whatever the friend poured into our wine cup, we drank it without question, whether it was the pure wine of heaven or the wine that intoxicates and is the same as drunkenness. It means we are satisfied with his judgment and satisfaction.

The sparkling and shaking of the wine in the cup and the twisted and curly hair of Yar have broken many repentances like Hafiz's repentance

Hafez stays with you, fills your heart 

He reflects what is in your heart , shining brighter than even the sun 

Thank you IRAN for Hafez..

I will not forget my Malaysian connection to Hafez .. YMC, Ho and Kit, Abid, Najwa..

and as Indians say, nothing happens without a reason, a friend of mine was appointed the Malaysian ambassador to IRAN..

He will further the relationship between the two countries..

It is coming up to 4 pm in the Presqui'lle Quiberon jutting into Quiberon bay with its wild coast Le Côte Sauvage looking into the North Atlantic .. one of the many ports from where Bretagne sailors set forth now to catch fish and in the yesteryears in search of fame and fortune.. not far from here is Port Gustain from where Champlain set sail to annex Quebec for France !

WELCOME 2023 THE YEAR OF FREEDOM LOVE FOR MANY OR MOST OF US ..

AN ANTHROPOLOGIST MOURNS PELE: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM GRIEF, AS INDIANS WOULD TEACH US

 The watch on the wrist makes a ping noise, BBC notification: The football great PELE has died, aged 82 and the Israelite Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paolo, Brasil.

Most of us had never seen him play or watched TV images of his play, or may not be even international soccer fans, but one name we all knew PELE from BRASIL. It is also an example of International Grief felt for someone who lives only in your imagination or magical memory. 

Chief CROWFOOT of the Blackfeet INDIANS.

this reminded me very much of the soliloquy by Macbeth which I had memorized as a child .

Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow’, Spoken by Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5

There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

While Chief Crowfoot and William Shakespeare reminds us of the evanescence of life, fear and reprieve and punishment in case of Macbeth, it does not give us a sense of loosing someone of the stature of PELE, all across the continents ..

France has a fecund local and regional and international journalism and in this regional newspaper, like in every single newspaper published in France, the headlines featured PELE

They remembered his hat trick against France when he entered the international arena as a 17 year old in 1958..

I also carry in my heart the funeral oration given by the great UmonHon chief UnPaToNga Big Elk

Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men. Death will come, and always comes out of season. It is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey. What is past, and cannot be prevented, should not be grieved for. Be not discouraged nor displeased, that in visiting your father here, you have lost your chief. A misfortune of this kind, under such afflicting circumstances, may never again befall you;

Those of us in the millions who grew up so far away from Brasil and Pele, what makes this man so endeared that tears come to our eyes at the thought of his death?

Strangely enough I received this article about GRIEF this morning. Humans and Nature, an article about Apprentice with Sorrow by Francis Weller..

Grief is more than an emotion; it is also a faculty of being human. It is a skill that must be developed, or we will find ourselves migrating to the margins of our lives in hopes of avoiding the inevitable entanglements with loss. Through the rites of grief, we are ripened as human beings. Grief invites gravity and depth into our world. We possess the profound capacity to metabolize sorrow into something medicinal for our soul and the soul of the community. The skill of grieving well enables us to become current—to live in the present moment and be available to the electricity of life. We gradually turn our attention to what is here, now, and less on our need to repair history. We remember we are more verb than noun, more a jumpy rhythm, a wild song, a fluid leap than a fixed thing in space. As Spanish poet, Jaime Gil de Biedma said, “I believed I wanted to be a poet, but deep down I just wanted to be a poem.”

to live in the present and be available to the electricity of life..

the present looms large and permanent, not the evanescence of a buffalo's breath or a story told by an idiot signifying nothing.

It is also our faculty of being human 

We mourn for Pele because we are human beings. I close my eyes and think of the square and the walk towards the museum in Santos in my only visit to that place where his 100 year old mother still lives.

Strangely enough, when I heard Brasil has lost their bid in the WorldCup in Qatar, I imagined the feeble heart of Pele breaking and his spirit dying,

His physical body is dead. Pele born under very trying circumstances became an universal icon, from Minais Gerais to the world ..

PS If you are deeply involved in the present, you would begin to see the banality of the behaviour of so many people around you as they march to their permanent oblivion .. avoid these people, attach yourself to people who maximize every breath, are considerate to other human beings, not angry or jealous and have some sort of connection with this universe.

LIVING THE FRENCH PARADOX, AN EXPLANATION

In 1991, Serge Renaud, a scientist from the University of Bordeaux, coined the term the FRENCH PARADOX, after noting the relatively lower rate of cardiovascular diseases among the French compared to UK or USA where they fiercely believed that Fat is the culprit and every thing was made FAT FREE.

My advice to you is simple .. Do not believe the marketing masters when they say 

LOW 

FREE

HIGH

NO, NON, NONE

Low as in LOW CALORIE , meaning they have added CHEMICALS to your food 

FREE as in FAT FREE, meaning a whole heap of sugar is added.

HIGH as in HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP which is totally a chemical causes damage to the health of humans 

NON etc meaning substituting the current FEAR of an INGREDIENT but substituting it with another chemical which is far worse (to be proven in the future)

I am in France currently and enjoying the food immensely. When people ask me, how have you managed to be healthy in the USA, I tell them, I do not live in the USA, come to visit the Indians and leave as soon as I can .. thus avoiding the poisons to which I am exposed to, in its multitudes of forms. I am grateful to the Indians of USA who have been an immense gift to me.

The current crises in individual health in the USA UK Australia would be greatly ameliorated if they improved their NUTRITION.

French eat 6x more butter than the Americans, four times the cheese and lots of red wine .. 

here are some of the foods i have eaten in this past 24 hours ..

oysters from the bay of Quiberon 

Scallops sourced locally. Leek from the market 

This traditional dessert called Christmas Tree Trunk is made at the bakery in the village 

Oysters are so plentiful that I have them with every meal 

I love the tase of the bigorneaux from the bay, periwinkle in English 

Look at the size of the adolescents meal, it is not heaped up with carbohydrates or french fries dipped in ketchup 

We are in France, and there is always champagne when friends are visiting. I was told that fifty years ago, champagne was reserved for the upper class in the society, now it has become more egalitarian.

These are the sweets we ate today. I am not saying all the French eat like this all the time, but I have noticed that :

1. most of the food are prepared at home or sourced locally. There is no Uber Eats or Food delivery service in this town

2. the portion sizes for adults and children are s,a;;  and very rarely there are "seconds"

3. there is conversation around the table but it seemed to be a pleasant exchange and also people catching up on the news of each other 

4. The lunches last usually about two hours if people are visiting and less if it is just family. there does not seem to be this "rush" to finish or overloading the stomach.

I am happy to be here. I give nutritional advice in my professional capacity around the world. Most people are not willing to change their habits or not able to change their habits because of lack of availability or ability to access nutritional food because of their social status or geography. Of a 100 people that I speak about Nutrition, I can honestly say that 3-5 might change or attempt to change their way of eating.

The countries in my circuit at the moment is 

United States where most of my counselling is done, CUBA (nutritional counselling here is an oxymoron..but I do eat well in Cuba thanks to my Cuban sister who accesses food locally), Colombia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kerala..

One has a better chance of eating well when visiting a developing country than a developed one, for various reasons.

In his 2003 book, The Fat Fallacy: The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss, Will Clower suggests the French paradox may be narrowed down to a few key factors, namely:

• Good fats versus bad fats — French people get up to 80% of their fat intake from dairy and vegetable sources, including whole milk, cheeses, and whole milk yogurt.
• Higher quantities of fish (at least three times a week).
• Smaller portions, eaten more slowly and divided among courses that let the body begin to digest food already consumed before more food is added.
• Lower sugar intake — American low-fat and no-fat foods often contain high concentrations of sugar. French diets avoid these products preferring full-fat versions without added sugar.
• Low incidence of snacks between meals.
• Avoidance of common American food items, such as soda, deep-fried foods, snack foods, and especially prepared foods which can typically make up a large percentage of the foods found in American grocery stores.

People who eat more dairy fat — which is plentiful in whole milk, yogurt, and cheese — may be less likely to develop heart disease than people who eat smaller amounts of dairy, a new study suggests.

For the study, researchers measured blood levels of a fatty acid found mostly in dairy foods in 4,150 60-year‑olds in Sweden, a county known for its love of dairy-based foods. After an average follow-up of 16.6 years, they found that people with the highest levels of the fatty acid had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease. The study authors confirmed these findings after combining the Swedish results with similar data from the United States, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The study was published in the Sept. 21, 2021, issue of PLOS Medicine.

While the findings don’t prove that dairy fat protects against cardiovascular problems, it suggests that full-fat dairy products may be less harmful to heart health than experts have assumed.(Harvard Health)

Biomarkers of dairy fat intake, incident cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality: A cohort study, systematic review, and meta-analysis

Lead authors are Australia based.

so here is to you, L'Chaim, to Life 

as I raise my Champagne glass ..

HALCYON. MEMORABLE TIMES BUT THIS MORNING THINKING OF MAQROLL OF COLOMBIAN WRITER ALVARO MUTIS

 Alvaro Mutis was a Colombian writer of prose and poetry and a good friend of Gabo, a contemporary from Bogota, who also lived in Mexico as an exile during the turbulent years of Colombian politics. His alter ego, called Maqroll el Gaviero, is a personality to get to know. I pride myself having taken on the cloak of Maqroll el Gaviero Judio, the Jewish Maqroll. There are very many interesting characters in the life of the original Maqroll and it is so universal that we would find similar characters in our lives also.

Abdur Bashur, Ilona, Warda..and the memorable name belongs not to a person but an ageing steamer which was complicit in many of Maqroll's adventures. 

The name of the ship was Halcyon. and I went to Pollenca in Baleares, Spain asking for its whereabouts and was told that it had sailed to Sfax in Tunisia and heard from no more..

(this particular book of poems by Alvaro Mutis is connected to me via Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and Bauru in Sao Paolo State in Brasil)

I was recently in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia and along rue Cairo I was attracted to a restaurant serving Sfax cuisine. I imagined Maqroll and his friend Abdur Bashur enjoying some fish dinners at the port of Sfax while harbouring the hope that the ever listing HALCYON could brought back to life. I entered and was served by a waiter who has worked there since 1968 when the restaurant opened 

rue Cairo, Tunis 

merci  tout la monde..

Tunis used to have a large Jewish community and many were made refugees in France, Canada and Israel after Arab Nationalists burned the synagogue, looted the shops and forbade jews from public life..I was introduced to the Tunisian Jewish life by books of Albert Memmi.

In search of Halcyon 

From Paris, one can fly to Tunis, Monastir or Djerba, the historic jewish presence of thousands of years. From Djerba you can reach Sfax either by bus or Louages which are vans with specific destinations, much like the Sherut taxis in Israel.

I will walk along the harbour for any signs of HALCYON, the ship that helped Maqroll through some rough times ..