The day after the formal opening of Calcutta artist Jayashree Chakravarty's solo exhibition in Nice last week, I went to the Albert I Square, where there is a memorial to the 86 people, including 10 children, killed on the night of July 14 when Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian resident of France, drove a 19-tonne cargo truck into the crowds enjoying Bastille Day along the Promenade des Anglais.

The sun was now shining, the restaurants seem to be humming and, superficially, life has returned to normal. But the title of Jayashree's exhibition, Life will Never be the Same - the artist is referring to what she thinks Salt Lake in Calcutta has become - happens to be a truer reflection of local opinion in Nice.

In Albert Square, I discovered a rotunda decorated with thousands of children's toys. Not even at Hamleys in Regent Street in London have I seen so many teddy bears in one place. There were also toys placed along the promenade, with a simple cross silhouetted against the perfect blue of the Mediterranean.

Sylvie de Galleani, chief curator responsible for Asian museums in the region, summed up: "My heart has been broken."

Meanwhile, artistic life, which defines the French, carries on. Jayashree's exhibition at Musée des Arts Asiatiques (Museum of Asian Art) in Nice has been brought over by Reena and Abhijit Lath, who run the Akar Prakar art gallery in Calcutta and are developing a close relationship with museums in France. Last year they brought "8 Masters from Bengal" to Nice.

Also present was the exhibition's curator, Robina Karode, of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi.

The museum's and the region's top arts hierarchy - Helen Cordonnier, Anne-Marie Dupont, Sylvie De Galleani, and Dr Alain Frere - certainly seem appreciative of Bengal art. They positioned the museum's resident protima (statue) of Durga by the entrance perhaps to make the Calcutta crowd feel at home.

Jayashree, who was commendably brief in her speech, later told me: "I only draw Salt Lake."

Although the residents of Salt Lake will be gratified to hear all life is contained in their part of Calcutta, Jayashree means something else. Big fish, which feature in her work, have now vanished, thanks to "progress".

She also paints hundreds of insects on specially prepared translucent paper, rolled up into tunnels or turned into tents.

The number of insect works on the Noah's ark principle.

"At times of dangers, insects gather in one place," explained Jayashree.

Namasté France

Jayashree Chakravarty's show is part of Namasté France, a festival of some 70 events, taking place across France from September 15 to November 30 and representing "the best" of Indian culture.

For this, much of the credit should go to Mohan Kumar, the Indian ambassador to France who has done a year and has another year to go before he is retired at 60. Kumar, who was deputy chief of mission five years ago in Paris, speaks fluent French. Personally, I think it would be good for Indo-French relations if his term is extended.

Namasté France began with an Amjad Ali Khan sarod concert (he had no visa problems getting into France - UK, please note) and Kumudini Lakhia's Kathak and will end with L. Subramanium's violin and Raja Reddy's dance from the South. A bust of Maharajah Ranjit Singh has been unveiled in Saint-Tropez.

There will be events in Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux and all major cities.

All of Satyajit Ray's films will be shown. There will be fashion by Rahul Mishra and nouvelle cuisine from London Michelin star chef Vineet Bhatia. Rather more bravely, Indian wine will be brought to France for locals to judge.

Kumar won't be drawn on whether France is quietly improving its ties with India, while the UK is focused on Brexit.

"France and India go back to 1998 - the first Western country with which we established a strategic partnership was France," he points out. "France has always stood by us."

Next year will be France's turn to mount a cultural festival across India called Bonjour India.

Artist's delight

All I can say is that the Calcutta-based sculptor, Debanjan Roy, 41, should consider himself a very lucky man.

He arrives shortly to spend a month doing his own thing at the restored 14th century seaside castle, Château de la Napoule, in Mandelieu-la-Napoule near Cannes.

We were given a quick tour of the gardens, said to be among the most notable in France, and the studio which has once belonged to sculptor Henry Clews.

Artists from all over the world are invited to apply for a residency. Being able to serve the cause of the arts is seen by the trustees as reward enough.

Very noble and very French.

Local Brangelina

Newspapers the world over try and get a local angle on a big story. Nice-Matin, the regional daily broadsheet, had no problems getting one when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced they were splitting up.

On July 13, 2008, Nice-Matin secured a world exclusive by confirming that Jolie had given birth to twins, Knox and Vivienne, at the Fondation Lenval hospital in Nice.

Now fast forward eight years when the twins are eight.

There was a detailed account of the impending divorce in the Daily Beast, the American website, by journalist Dana Kennedy, who had reported on the twin births for People magazine in the US.

"France giveth - and France taketh away - at least if you're Angelina Jolie," began her report last week. "Nothing defined 'Brangelina' more than their love affair with France, especially the south of France, during their 12-year partnership."

As for myself, I have encountered Pitt and Jolie at the Cannes Film Festival - especially in 2007 when Jolie played murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl's widow, Mariane Pearl, in The Mighty Heart, in which the couple used a lot of my research for the documentary, The Journalist and the Jihadi. But that is another story. Incidentally, quite a lot of their film was shot in Pune.

French satire

The entire free world was outraged and adopted the refrain, "I am Charlie Hebdo", when two Islamic terrorists entered the offices of the French satirical magazine in Paris on January 7 last year - and shot dead 11 people and injured 11 others.

That said, Charlie Hebdo uses a much blunter instrument than Britain's subtler Private Eye to make its point. I noticed the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo ridiculed the recent arrest of three women in Paris on charges of planning to cause explosions with gas canisters.

The magazine has a cartoon of a woman in a burqa, with a gas canister under each arm. The headline reads, Harcelement: "Cette semaine, on m'a foutu la paix!" (Harassment: "This week I was f.....g peace!")

Tittle tattle

Those buying euros, beware. At Gatwick Airport, I wanted 50 euros for the odd taxi fare in Nice. At 1.17 euros to the pound, I should have paid something like £42.74. Instead, the woman at the Bureau de Change wanted £52.50 to give me 50 euros - which seemed crazy.

"My commission," she smiled, as the bank did the robbing.

AMIT ROY