Louvre - The beginning of a series: Milo De Croton by Puget

Let me confess, I am no grand connoisseur of art, but I love art and the stories behind a sculpture or painting. If I understand a tiny aspect of art, my joy knows no bounds. The following is my humble attempt to document what I cherished during my visit to Louvre.

My last stopover was the spot where Puget's world famous Milo de Croton is kept. Greek legend has that, unable to come to terms with his age, the former Olympic champion tried to split an already half-cleft tree. But his hand got stuck in the tree and he was eaten alive by wolves.

The liveliness of this sculpture mesmerized me. If you look closer, you can notice how Milo throws his head back and crunches his toes. You can feel the scene happening in front of your eyes. My heart went out to Milo and my eyes were filled with tears as I watched him moan due to the bite of the lion (Puget was gracious enough to replace the wolves with the nobler Lion).

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learning never stops, not even during vacation...

Somehow France and Spain had always been my dream destinations, but never was Switzerland. I am a museum and buildings person who can wander in closed spaces like museums and churches for hours without a sign of fatigue, but a simple hiking wears me out. So, when my husband and I ended up taking a trip to Swiss and Paris, I thought the best was reserved for the latter part of the journey. And boy, how wrong I had been!

The beautiful villages of Swiss, the cowbells, the rapid breaths after hikes, the profuse, the suntan caused by the snow capped peaks, the wallet-burning restaurant checks - I started missing Swiss as soon as I left Interlaken to Geneva. Geneva was more French than Swiss. After a boring trip (the only boring train journey of the many train journeys we had) from Geneva to Paris, I realized that this is a different Paris than the one I had always fantasized about.
But eventually, I started liking Paris and gorged on sugar-laced donuts and coffee (yum!). Tirelessly we walked, almost 12 hours everyday, across the city and went to all the famous and beautiful churches - Notra dame, St. Chappel, Sacre Couer and several other..Icing on the cake was that we were able to instantly recognize Sacre Couer as the location in which the french movie Amelie was shot (remember the scene where Nino is led by blue arrows to the binoculars!). Louvre justified all the fatigue of the trip and was spectacular, to say the least!

A side note: How come songs of all Vijay movies are shot in Mt.Titlis or Jungfraujoch? Why does the song picturized on Surya and Jyothika go on like "New York Nagaram urangum neram" when the song was actually shot in Lucerne?

Will post some pics later. Now come the top 3 lessons from the trip:
1. Never mix business and pleasure: I ended up working late nights on my take home exam for MBA and that too in Swiss. What a loggerhead!
2. If you have the real conviction, the more challenge it is to do something, the more certain it is that you will do it. I managed to continue to be a strict lacto veggie in Swiss and France despite challenges
3. Thou always wear sunscreen: Need I say more!

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Guilt

I see him everyday when I walk back from my office to New York Penn Station. Easily a 40+, he stands tall. Decently dressed, a cigarette in his hand, he can be mistaken as yet another guy you see in the juggernaut called NY. But he is different, he continues talking to himself and smiles at passers by for no reason..He holds a pan but he himself is oblivious of his begging.

He smiles at me everyday when I pass by. But call it fear, self-obsession or the resultant lack of time, I cannot return the smile to an innocent soul. Lost in my own world, just like he is, I go past him as usual into my crazy world.

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Dreading to say goodbye

I have been dreading to say goodbye to my dear Emma, whom I have been listening to for the past few days. I have watched the movie several times (the Gywenneth Paldrow version), can quote passages from the book and now the audio version of it from BBC series.

A character full of charm, assumed intelligence and pompousness, she brings smile to my lips when she unsuccessfully tries to play cupid. I might identify myself with Marianne Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility (he, he), but I am so in love with Emma (and of course Mr. Knightley). Indeed!

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Dunce

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Being the dunce that I am, I repeatedly bite more than what I can chew! Sighhhhhhh!

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Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous!

One of the most lovable songs that I have heard in times is 'Aval Appadi Ondrum Azhagillai'..This song goes to say how the protaganist thinks his beloved is not so beautiful, is not very fair but how he adores her. Nice lyrics from my favorite Naa. Muthukumar and sung neatly by Karthik. This song is based on Kalyani raaga and is a beautiful melody.

What so stumbled me was that there exists another melody, in hindi though, the theme of which is very similar to 'Aval appadi'. This other song is from 'Papa Kahte hain' that starts with 'Ghar se nikalte hi'..I particularly recollect the lines

"Naa apsara hai, naa woh pari hai", which means "She is not a divine beauty, nor an Angel she is.."

What else can you ask for - this song is based on the raaga Kalyaan (the hindustani equivalent of kalyani) too!

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Following examples ...

As a teetotaller, I think beer is best served only for one purpose - as an excellent hair conditioner.
As an occasional(!) drinker, my husband believes that beer brings relief after a hard day's work.
After reading about this episode ( http://www.newsobserver.com/nation_world/story/1625291.html), now he suddenly wants to patch up with all his long-forgotten enemies-right-from-childhood-days over beer. Should I be happy about his newfound friendliness?!

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