Indian Style @ Brussles (Part 2)

Let me start with a question,so what is the best way to begin a vacation? Is it by visiting touristy places and tasting local cuisine? Is it to let outyour locked-up cravings out and being yourself? Or is it spending time withyour friend ?

At RueNeuve - Isn’t vacation all about enjoying the simple pleasures of life?

He cautioned me about RueNeuve, the retail district of Brussels, but I convinced him that my craving was reservedfor crepes, waffles and chocolates – isn’t that what Belgium is famous for? Infacthe caught me incessantly and salaciously starring at every mobile waffle cartand confirmed my craving wasn’t fake. Those waffles had generous spread of Nutella(like sun-screen), covered with sliced bananas and strawberries and garnishedwith hot chocolate

sauce. Even a saint would salivate looking at that.

But besides mouth watering crepes,waffles and chocolates, there is something strong lurking inside me. We were onRue Neuve and right outside Pull & Bear, his favorite clothing brand. Sincewe had so much in common, I was completely convinced that his choice would makeme happy and I blindly followed him around like a puppy on leash. He said hepicked up his entire wardrobe on Sale for a throw away price. Ever been to theThanksgiving Day sale at Macys? That is how I ran into the store after seeingthe “Solden” board outside. His words were tempting and the Solden board passedon the control to the puppy on Rue Neuve and the poor friend was running behindthe leash.

I reminded myself of the vow Ihad taken at the start of the New Year “No Retail Therapy”, specificallyclothes shopping in 2013 and I only completed 30 days. Now I was headedstraight to markdown stuff, looked at shorts, tees, shirts, jeans and shoes.The long wait time to get to the trial room didn’t deter me from taking a dozenof clothes to try and it was all € 8 items that were making me even more powerfuland happy.

Colors were bright, thematerial was suitable for Chennai Summer and I didn’t even botherseeking his approval or opinion, and the only time I needed his help was whenthe cashier at the billing counter asked for another credit card since minewouldn’t go through. I was not embarrassed and I shamelessly accepted when heoffered to swipe his card and he didn’t talk about repayment – it was all unsaid andunderstood. This is truly another Indian style – we don’t wait for our friendsto ask for help and we always do that extra mile and that is part of thefriendship.

A smalldetour: Last August I visited my friend Bala who lives on the West Coast of USand we traveled to LA, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco and at the end of the trip he wouldn’t split the expenses. When I asked him why, he replied that I had come all the way from India to be with him and that friendship is never about money! Now do you get to learn the Indian style and why I celebrate my friends?

So come back next week to readabout Temple of Beer (not our Tasmac), Grand Palace, Manekken Pis, and moreshopping.

Indian style @ Brussels (Part 1)

In addition to visa for travel, foreign currency to spend, hotelto stay, maps to get around, you still need more on the list to make your tripfeel secure and complete – a friend in the land you plan to travel. I had no plans to travel to Brussels,but that changed when a long time friend messaged me on Gtalk and invited me tovisit him for the weekend. And I was confused if the Schengen visa was enoughfor me to travel into Brussels. Within minutes, he checked on the visa and evenbooked my ticket on Thalys from Gard du Nord, Paris to Brussels therebypostponing my planned trip to Versailles. And the excitement ended and so manythoughts crossed my mind when I didn’t find him at Brussels - Gare Nu Midi.

 

The Indian style welcome

I walked up and down the platform twice, I came down to the gateto see if he was waiting for me and I even re-read his email multiple times to make sure I was waiting where asked me to. I even asked the ticket examiner it if was Gare Du Midi. It was not a planned trip and I hadn’t done any reading and I completely relied onhim to take me around Brussels. And I imagined giving him a big hugon the platform, we hadn’t met in 7 years and he had so many things in commonfrom music to food to experiences. But he was not there :-(

And when he finally arrived 15 mins later, I was welcomed to half-a-dozen apologies and it was truly an Indian-style welcome to Brussels. Another 10 mins delay I would have goneon my own to find a place to stay and explore the city.

 

The Indian style welcome also comes with the Indian stylehospitality, which means multiple cups of strong piping hot milk coffee, Pongaland Sambar for breakfast and Paruppu usili (ground lentil, steamed and panfried) and Avial (mixed vegetable in coconut gravy spiced with green chillies)for lunch. There is more to Indian hospitality (athithi devo bhava - God comes onlyafter guest) and you need to wait till the last to understand what we really meanby athithi devo bhava.

 

Wait for a few more daysto read about my trip to Brussels and see it all in pictures.

Parallels in life, art, society and culture

Fathers, retired uncles and grandfathers exchanges notes, conversations and often drawing parallels in time while walking the bridge between the past and present. Mothers and grandmothers' catch the waft emanating from a neighbors’ kitchen and sometimes (to be read as always) over hear conversations to draw parallels. And when I travel, I always like to keep my senses on vigil to record parallels in societies, in mythologies, faith, lifestyle, culture and share them with friends and family.

Be it at home or while in travel, we always look for parallels for validation, inspiration and sometimes to fuel gossip and cynicism. On this trip to Paris, France I decided to take time out and tour the Louvre Museum in the company of my Parisian friend Jose, who also turns out to be a history buff, a socialist, a sociologist and an antique collector too. Did I say I had a curator for a friend?

The Musée du Louvre: Is one of the world's largest museums, and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). With more than 8 million visitors each year, the Louvre is the world's most visited museum.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. The size of the collection increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic.

It is not possible to tour this museum in one trip or one day. The collection in the museum is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

We entered through Portes des Lions entrance and covered Northern European Sculpture(17-19^th century), Italian Sculptures (16-19th century) and Roman antiques on the ground floor. We then climbed flights of stairs to catch Italian Paintings from 13-18^th century, capturing the mysterious smile of Monalisa. Since the museum was open till 9.45pm on Fridays, we were able to cover two floors. The advantage of going with a Parisian like Jose is innumerable. I got to travel back in time to visualize and appreciate every piece of art curate in the backdrop of culture, society and lifestyle.

 

While at the museum, I spotted a few pieces of art that fitted right into our mythology. And when I shared the image of Krishna with Jose he concurred with the parallel. Can't you can see a close resemblance between the two pictures below: crossed legs, slender body and flute to the right side?

 

Jose confirmed that the child in the sculpture is indeed strangling the bird and the choking expression confirms beyond doubt. In Srimad Bagavadham we've heard Krishna killing Bakasura.

 

Many of the sculptures represented real life: some didn't sport six pack, some were effete and some were naked (don't know if it was poverty or fashion or perversion).  On the flight back home I spotted a few scenes on the aircraft that emulated the art that I saw at the museum.

 

 

 

 

While the Capitalist society terms emulation as plagiarism, the artistic society terms it as inspiration. So, the only question for us to ask now, does art emulates life or life emulates art? Hope I will be able to find many such emulation of art and life on my next trip to Louvre and share it with you. Until then look our for parallels and share it friends and family.

For more pictures visit: https://picasaweb.google.com/108289564546757100555/Louvre#