The city’s expats and residents have come together as a sign of solidarity, in the wake of the tragedy
The viral Eiffel Tower peace symbol #PrayforParis
French expats residing all over Chennai and Puducherry were left in distress yesterday, as they woke up to reports about the Paris attacks that ripped through the heart of the capital, and sent shock waves across the world. But just as Chennai responded with utmost solidarity to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist shooting that occurred in January, the recent devastating news was also met with overwhelming empathy here — especially on social media, where tributes, posters, sketches and messages were shared all day long — with the hashtag #PrayforParis.
And that’s not all: French nationals living in Tamil Nadu have planned a meeting on Sunday in Puducherry, to converge and discuss on how best they could comfort friends and family in Paris; a wonderful sign of support that will see the attendance of many other well-wishers as well.
“My immediate reaction was of course, to contact family members at home, and check if they were okay. Most terrifying of all was the news that gunmen had burst into the Bataclan concert hall and taken hostages — I have sat in those very seats and watched performances many a time! I’m deeply upset, but all we can do now is send out some good vibes and pray for the best,” remarks Cathy Dumoux, a music artiste manager in the city.
Annie Empereur, who used to work at a shipping company in Chennai and is now exploring the rest of Tamil Nadu, says she’s still worried over some friends who were unable to be reached — and had “no words to express the brutality this spells out.”One of the attacks was an explosion outside the Stade de France.
And a football game between France and Germany was being played — keenly watched by fans of the sport in Chennai. “It was indeed alarming to hear the bomb go off near the stadium. Our first impulse was to contact friends studying/ living in Paris, but Facebook’s ‘marked safe’ feature sent us all notifications even before we had to message them -— and reassured us. Many of them are also using the #PorteOuverte hashhtag to help people find a safe place to stay or go to,” says K. Karthik, an entrepreneur.
Marion Ducret, a cheese master in Puducherry, and guitarist Mishko M’ba are some of the others who are going to be meeting with other French nationals on Sunday, aiming to come up with a practical solution to help those at home. “I don’t know how they are going to manage this crisis. All that security around an international match, and terror still won. People all over the world need to find the goodness inside them for this madness to stop,” muses Mishko.
Several actors, singers and other celebrities in the city also took to tweet about the massacre. Actress Ileana D’Cruz posted, “Such terrible terrible news about Paris! praying for the families...what do people expect to gain with this kind of violence!” while Lakshmi Manchu said, “What a sad morning to wake up to. Just not fair.
This hurts so deep inside.” Some like director Aishwarya Dhanush and composer Anirudh Ravichander also expressed their sentiment by sharing tribute posts of the incident.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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