Pathenon – a glimpse of Greece

The Parthenon - Nashville TN

Over the weekend, we visited the Parthenon in downtown Nashville; which is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The monument is located within the Centennial Park, a large public park. The building from outside looks regular size until you actually come close to it; when it does look huge. Especially, the huge rigged pillars are enormous. The monument is surrounded by lush green park lawn. I waited patiently to get a front view of the monument without any visitors. 

Comparison of me to the size of the Pillars

We walked over the green lawn to find an entrance on the other side of the monument. The monument has an entrance fee of $6 – adults and $4 – children/seniors. The benefit of entrance is the chance to see the statue of Athena inside the monument.

Ceiling

I had read reviews about this tourist spot that the statue is worth seeing hence we decided to go inside the monument. On entering, there are two walkways full of pictures from the time it was built. The building was first built for 1897 Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition. It was constructed of brick, wood, lath and plaster and represented city’s reputation as the “Athens of the South”. The building was so popular that the city left the temporary structure standing after the Exposition. In 1920 due to crumbling pediments and decaying plaster, the city authorized the reconstruction with permanent material like concrete which finished by 1931.

The row of Pillars

Close up of Athena

The ground floor has paintings from 19th- and 20th-century American artists. One of the most striking pictures I saw was Edwin Howland Blashfield’s, The new Dress (1874). It has got this 3D look that for a moment I thought the pink paint is actually a silk cloth pasted on the canvas! Among recent artists, there are very intricate paintings by Paul Lancaster.

On the first floor is the ultimate attraction – The statue of Athena – Goddess of wisdom, prudent warfare and the useful arts. The original Athena Parthenos (lost in ancient Roman wars) was created by sculptor Pheidias in 5^th Century B.C. made of ivory and gold plates. 

Athena

This modern statue was sculpted by Nashvillian Alan LeQuire. It is a magnificent piece of art standing 42’ 10” tall. The details are exact to that I read in the Wikipedia; left hand resting on the shield, left knee slightly bent, her weight shifted slightly on the right leg, the snake head by the shield, the Nike-Goddess of victory perched on the right hand. This statue is surrounded on its sides by original sculptural fragments from the Acropolis that where purchased from the British museum to be placed here. These are called Elgin casts. Also found is a statue of Gryphon - is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle's talons as its front feet.

Elgin casts

The Gryphon

Pillars inside have an architectural beauty - scroll finish

The New Dress painting

Painting by Paul Lancaster

Funny thing, I play short quizzes on this website dailybreak.com; and just a day ago I had played a quiz on Greek mythology where I learnt so many names of their gods and goddesses. The park is huge and I will surely visit few more times to write what's more to this park.

Note: Painting images taken over internet, as photography of them is not allowed.

Back to the land of abundance!

So we moved to the US...my husband is here for work and I quit from my work, mainly for my infant son...and the US job came along coincidentally! The last time we were here, it was 2009-2010. We lived on the west coast, the ever green state of Washington. Now we are in the middle of the country in Nashville, Tennessee. Its HOT here...hotter than Bangalore! Now I am wondering why I bothered to get my long coat that I bought the last time I lived in the US. 

It’s warm and sweaty at as early as 7am! So the AC goes on all day long. My journey was good considering we had a 5 month infant and a 22hr journey with one transit! He barely cried except when he was hungry or sleepy. I had passengers praising my son; that he was such a good baby! He sure was a good traveler.

Moving from India to USA is like building your whole life all over again, especially when you are married. You have to buy all the things all over again; the utensils, the bed, the furniture, the electronics etc. This being our second time, we have our lessons from before. I am myself shocked to find the smallest things that I brought along with me this time. Settling down here this time was not that difficult since we knew what exactly we need and where to get it from! But settling has been on priority thanks to an infant at hand! 

Pasta with eggplant puree, oven roasted potatoes and salad

Surprisingly, both I and my husband got sick after we reached here; but my son was fine until he got an ear infection after a week. The doctor thinks he got it from my husband; the cable and the maintenance guys here said that cold, cough and ear infections are very common in Nashville! Not a nice thing to hear! I surely don't want him to fall sick again! 

French bread with garlic, parsley, olive oil and mozzarella cheese

Now after 2 weeks, we are kind of settled with all essentials ready at home. And almost after 4 years, today I have cooked one of our favorite oven dish - Pasta with Eggplant puree; first time trial of baked potatoes and a salad! Had a hearty Italian/American dinner tonight! The best part of being the US, is the OVEN. Can't wait to start baking some dishes. I wish to master a few bread and cake recipes this time. For starters, I made some quick garlic bread with garlic, parsley, olive oil and mozzarella cheese - comfort food! 

Will start to share Nashville experiences soon...

Tribute to my grandpa

Last few weeks have been emotionally challenging for me..my entire family. My grandpa, mom’s father passed away 3 weeks ago. His health suddenly deteriorated. He was 84 and I knew he was growing weak. But while I was away at my mom’s place for my maternity, I hoped that I would return in time to show him my son; he eagerly longed to see my son. My grandma says, “More than seeing your son, he wanted to see how you play and entertain your child”. I have always been this crazy kinda grandchild, acting silly around my grandparents (that’s how you are); so to see me as parent is what he wanted to see! I am glad I have mentioned him at least once on my blog – funny incident. A few things to remember and mention about my grandfather!

A super duper movie buff, crazy for food, an endless gambler and a person with a huge heart to treat everyone each day- motto was ‘to enjoy life’. He always said that to my husband too, “Raj! We should enjoy life; what is the point of saving money if you don’t spend it to be happy”. Through my childhood he has been the first person who has introduced us to movies, theaters! I still remember watching my first movie with him Tezaab! In his younger days he was friends with the one and only Kannada superstar Rajkumar. We have photos of him on the set with the filmstars! So much so that I learnt that my mom and an aunt have actually worked in one of the films those times…a small birthday party scene! He’d watch every single hindi movie running in the theaters; Bond movies! I remember in recent years he had watched hindi movie Murder and he once said to me “Shilpa, I watched Murder. Excellent music”. Now we all what exactly that movie got famous for, so I went on teasing him, “Tata, we know what the movie is like” and I continued teasing telling my grandma “you need to check what movies he is watching out there”. In recent times he hasn’t been watching movies, I think the genre now a days are different from his times. He belonged to the Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar age of melodious songs and clean movies. His all time favorite movie has been Padosan and I think he might have watched it a zillion times!

Till his last days he never gave up on smacky, street food, non-veg; everything that the doctor said to avoid, he’d go and eat the same stuff. Another trait of his was, to eat something compulsorily when you are out. No matter how many people he has with him, he will make sure he treats everyone to some snack! Bill was always paid by him! About a year ago, my grandma was hospitalized and we all were visiting her. My husband and my two cousins were also there with me. After the visit, my grandpa gave me 500/- and said you guys go eat some snack. My husband was in awe to see him handing so much money just for some evening snack! To this date my husband says “You are so lucky to have such a grandfather.”

His routine since he retired had been visiting his friends at club every day, play some card games and return back home. I don’t know since when he has been into gambling, but we all know that whenever he’d visit Mysore, he would go to the race course and bet some money on the horses at the race. In fact, on his 3^rd day ceremony we placed a pack of cards next to his photo. My uncle said we should also place a horse; that would make his soul happy!

A final confession I have to make; in 2011 when I lived with him I had some small argument and I had stopped talking to him. Almost for a month or two! I heard from other relatives including my mom that he’d weep and tell, ‘Shilpa, my grand daughter doesn’t talk to me anymore’. In subsequent weeks, I got back to talking to him, just as I always was with him. Now after he passed away and the fact that I didn’t get to see him before his funeral; I have this deep regret that may be I have been punished for my behavior in 2011, that I didn’t get the chance to even see him one last time!

If I have to celebrate his life, all I have to do is “watch a movie, preferably Padosan, eat some yummy junk food and may be go place a bet at some horse race or play a card game”.

A quote I read in TOI the other day, “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” For me, I just feel like I haven’t met my grandpa in a long time, I don’t know when I will see him, but he is around here somewhere.

Sorry Tata, I wish I could have reached a week before and met you one last time. I will always miss your absence when I visit Grandma! Rest in peace Tata!

Madhuri and the grace of dancing

I am not a crazy fan of Madhuri Dixit..in general enjoy watching her. I have been really away from all movies that have released in the past 6 months. I just made some time to check out some videos of Ranbir kapoor’s new movie Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. I really want to watch it in the theater.

Browsing through the songs on youtube, a pleasant surprise was the song Ghagra from the same movie. I had no idea she is featuring in this movie too….probably just the song. Item song I guess!

You have to watch the song to believe, how an item song from bollywood can be done with full grace, zero vulgarity and no obscene dressing or dirty steps. Only Madhuri can pull off an item song like this. It’s a simple song with typical Madhuri dance steps, loads of expressions. And for an Indian mother of two, she has regained her look as good as in the movie Devdas..may be even better!

All the other items girls (Kareena, Katrina, Malaika, Aishwarya and oh god Rakhi Sawant!!) could take a lesson from this song; you don’t always have to dress vulgar and have dirty words in an item song! Now there is an item song that we can watch with the entire family and enjoy!

Bravo Madhuri! You rock!

Tricks and habits..

Through my pregnancy I read books, websites about pregnancy; of course I never had the time to read about what happens once the baby arrives; moreover I always thought I will have the help of all existing mothers in the family J.  One of the greatest tasks is to put your baby to sleep.

Since the day Aarav was born, I started to set him a habit of rubbing his forehead which should put him to sleep. This is still working unlike Gayatri Mantra which we used to sing in his first week. Although I have noticed recently, if he doesn’t want to sleep and if I try to rub his forehead, he will shake his head indicating “don’t do it” or “I am not going to sleep”!!! But if he wants to sleep, he will close his eyes at the first touch on his forehead.

Recently when my brother’s friend visited us; who is also a new parent, asked me if I am singing songs to Aarav, I said why should I sing songs to such a small baby, he won’t understand any of it. He said songs work great for babies!

But just out of the blue two week ago, I ‘by mistake’ started to sing “Lakadi ki kaathi, kaathi pe ghoda” song and he slept!!! INSTANTLY! I thought it might have been a coincidence, so I tried it for 3 days in a row…and guess what, it really works! Now I have a nap song for Aarav which works every single time. Easy and quick way to put him to nap; a few rocks on the lap with the song and Aarav goes into deep sleep. Each time it works and it feels like such an achievement! But experienced parents are warning me to prepare more songs as babies will need a new song every month..

So now I have to go hunting for baby songs from our childhood times…because these days we have only sheila ki jawani, chikni chameli etc..and I don’t think he should be exposed so soon to today’s bollywood item songs…

Now I am working on tricks to make him smile! They are pretty much weird garbled sounds, more like noise for adults that make him smile…random pitches of ‘ooooooo’ sound work great on him..and it’s so true that, that one giggle, smile your baby gives is so priceless! It’s actually getting interesting as he responds back with his own sounds….precious moments!

Mesothelioma and a Survivor’s story

Today I have a special article to post. I received a comment on a post to be contacted back from a person named Heather, saying she has a question regarding my blog. Assuming she has a question about India or tourist places in India or Indian culture… I sent a mail to her asking how could I help? To my surprise the response was from a cancer survivor, Mesothelioma cancer – requesting to share her story. Do I have to think twice to help? At this moment I feel happy that probably for the first time, I can use my blog to share a fighter’s real story and spread awareness to as many as possible.

I read about the cancer first and then went on to check out the video she shared. From what I read, Mesothelioma cancer is caused due to exposure to asbestos. I am going to directly share the email I received from Heather and also her video here. And I’d request to all my readers to share the same with as many friends as possible.

Hi there! Thanks for getting back to me! I am well and hope you are too. I am 44 and a mother to a quirky little 7 year old, Lily. She is my only child, and my whole world. When Lily was just 3 1/2 months old, I was diagnosed with mesothelioma; a type of cancer that kills most people within 2 years. As I’m sure you can imagine, the first thing that came to mind when I was diagnosed was my baby girl and how I wasn’t going to be able to watch her grow up.After intense treatment and recovery, I’m still here 7 years later and cancer free! My journey with cancer was a terrifying one and I'd like to turn my pain into purpose and become someone that other people can look to for guidance, inspiration, and hope in situations like my own. My husband and I recently participated in a short video about my experience with cancer and I contacted you because I feel that your blog would be an excellent place to share. I’m hoping to use this video as a tool to raise awareness of this horrible little known cancer that is such a deadly killer (and sadly, 100% preventable). I would love it if you would be willing to share my video on your blog with your readers. Here is the link to my video: http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather

Thanks Heather for choosing me to share your story. Your story is very touching and you are an inspiration for your positive attitude and the fight you led. I can’t express in words how pleased I am to know your fight had a happy ending. God bless you and your family. Wish you the best of times with your daughter Lily and your loving husband Cameron!

Mother's Day...annoucement

It’s been a LONGGGG pending update from my side; Here is the formal announcement, I have become a mother to a handsome baby boy, Aarav. For those who are curious, the name Aarav means peaceful, calm. Frankly, we were always sure and hopeful, we’d have a daughter! So I had spent most of the time in finding a girl’s name; with 2 boy names, just in case J. After the initial surprise, it later sunk in, that we have a boy indeed! However, we had our baby girl moment after coming home- the classic event in India of dressing up a baby boy in a frock; yeah we dressed Aarav in a cute pink frock that we had bought in the past!

Aarav ...

The moment when my boy was brought to me in the room and placed next to me, and how instantly he curled up to me; that moment was magical and will be unforgettable for the rest of my life!

Parenthood is coming to me each day; learning and observing my boy’s behavior; trying to set some routines with him so we understand each other well. He’s almost 1.5 months old and now it’s getting fun with him as he is catching his sight of moving objects, watching my face and smiling and watching him kick his feet in full swing when he is in play mode. Unlike most newborns that are awake all night, my boy sleeps well through the night and doesn’t trouble me J.

Each day I am getting stronger; initially I was very emotional each time he cried…now I can watch him get his vaccine shots and pacify him J.

Time sure flies very fast; I was waiting for these 10months to go fast; anxiously waiting and wondering how I would deliver a BABY! And now he is already 1.5months and growing up so fast!

Today is my first mother’s day, being a mother and I thought it’s a perfect day to make my announcement to all my readers. Here’s wishing all mothers and soon-to-be mothers a wonderful mother’s day! And I will try to make time to update stories of my son….