La Veillée #3 : Aram Hekimian + Imagine

Our next guest will come

and share with you his very unique life

which might have been led by a kid's dream

Please all welcome Aram Hekimian

Good Evening

Thank you Patrick

I am going to tell you

my own story.

When Patrick asked me to tell

an out of the ordinary story.

I thought I could just tell my own.

As you could guess from my name,

I originated from Armenia.

I was born in Istanbul, and I'm not

the 1st generation to come to France

because my grandparents with their 3 kids

came to France in the 1920's.

Settled in Lyon's region

seeking a better life.

But unfortunately it didn't

turn out that way.

My aunt quickly died of Tuberculosis

and my grandparents followed her,

taken away by sadness.

My mum and and my uncle,

remained alone, orphans.

My uncle was 18 at the time

worked nearby, in Roman's shoes factory

My mum went to an orphanage.

Later, family members brought them back

to Istanbul; where I was born.

I'm born in a normal family,

raised in a family cocoon.

Similarly to all Armenian kids

I went to an Armenian school,

and at that time when I came back

from school, in order to relax,

my mum was reading me comic books.

But unfortunately, she read it

in a language I didn't know.

And when I asked :

"Mummy what language is it ?"

She said : "It's French"

My mum only learnt French and could

only read in French.

Obviously I could not understand a thing.

I told myself that maybe, once I get older

I could learn my mum's language

I was also born in a cinema-lover

environment. My whole family loved movies.

I grew up with Jean Gabin,

Delon, Belmondo and others.

In black and white

One day, my uncle

took me to a James Bond movie

I was fascinated by the car

It made my day but I could sense somthing

wrong with the car.

I didn't know how to define it

The next day when I woke up

I found out what was wrong

there was no telephone in the car

I told myself it was really lacking,

I was 8 at that time