WHEN Michel Colucci, son of an Italian immigrant worker, began his school days in Paris he soon found out he had little interest in science, mathematics, history or literature. Nevertheless, he was a popular, plump little boy who made his classmates roll with laughter with his jokes and mimicries. Even his Italian name was considered funny and he was known to everyone as Coluche.

Colucci never finished his studies and by the early 1960s was trying a singing career in bars and cafes of Montmartre. Though he was not taken seriously as a singer, everyone laughed when he made faces and recounted funny stories. So he concentrated on his forte and soon started receiving invitations to perform in radio programmes and TV shows.

By the late 1970s Coluche, which he had taken as his professional nom de plume, became an established comedian. One of his famous practical jokes was the announcement of his candidacy in the 1981 presidential election which was taken seriously by his fans as indicated by an opinion poll in which more than 15 per cent of the electors considered casting their votes in his favour.

Simultaneously, his movie career also took off and in 1984 he was awarded the César, the French equivalent of the Oscar, for his performance in the film Tchao Pantin.

But if anyone had thought Coluche would be remembered by future generations as a clown, fate had decided otherwise. It all began with the phrase “I have a little idea” that was to become his legacy as it has been repeated by the media every winter for the past 30 years.

This happened during a radio broadcast of a group discussion. The invitees were talking about homeless people on the streets in Paris. “Weather experts have announced severe winter this year,” one of the participants said, “…God knows how many homeless people will die of cold and hunger.”

“I have a little idea…” squeaked Coluche from his corner, “…we could all donate some money and open a few soup kitchens in impoverished areas. We could call them the Restaurants of Heart. We may not be able to save everybody but we could provide enough food and strength to a few to brave the cold weather.”

Coluche’s words were hardly out of his mouth when phones started ringing at the radio station with callers asking how they could send their donations to the Restaurants of Heart. The first of these was opened with the aim of providing a few thousand meals to the needy in Paris alone. But the “little idea” had already spread like wildfire all over the country and 8.5 million meals were served to the hungry and the homeless in several cities.

Surprised, but also encouraged by his success, Coluche started working on another “little idea” of his. He had discovered that the law required time-barred items to be destroyed by food stores and that this process cost them money. He suggested that the stores could get rid of the burden by simply donating them to the Restaurants of Heart.

After all, he argued, the time-bar was only a technical detail and the meat, fish, milk or fruit-juices were not really rotten even if they had overlapped the date printed on the tin cans and bottles by just a few days. Coluche’s new drive too was an immediate triumph.

Though in a strictly statistical sense the 30th year of the founding of Restaurants of Heart is not due until January 2015, the organisers have already launched a huge countrywide operation to celebrate the event and to pay tribute to Coluche. As of mid-November more than a million meals as well as warm clothes have been provided to the poor and houseless people.

Unfortunately, Coluche did not live long enough to see the revolutionary conquest of his “little idea”. On June 19, 1986, less than a year after his historic radio announcement, his motorcycle was run over by a heavy truck in the town of Opio in southeastern France. He died at age 41.

The writer is a journalist based in Paris.

ZafMasud@gmail.com

Published in Dawn December 7th , 2014