IDIOMS AND LANGUAGE

“It’s a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.” - Franklin P. Jones
 

A living language is a dynamic, vibrant system, which breathes the same air as its speakers do and undergoes similar transformations in its character as the people who speak it. Its changing face relies very much on shifts in word meaning and the generation of new words or phrases to convey new meanings as new situations or new discoveries require. Novelty thrives not only on demands of society for advances in technology and changes in lifestyle that require neologisms, but also the insatiable search of people for saying old things in a fresh way. Idioms are very much a part of this process, and together with age-old clichés, that can be demonstrated (in some languages, at least) to be thousands of years old, the new slang of today becoming the idiom or cliché of tomorrow, sometimes progressing to a well-entrenched part of formal language a few decades later.
 

The word idiom comes from the Greek “idivwma” and means “one’s own thing” or “peculiarity”. Idiom can also mean to a certain extent “dialect” as frequently in dialects, words in common with the parent language can acquire new meanings or be used in unconventional ways. More often than not, however, an idiom is an expression in a mainstream language, which, typically cannot be explained in a straightforward way – grammatically or semantically. It is in many cases distinctive to that particular language alone, and it cannot be translated word for word into another language. One could also say that an idiom is a “peculiarity of phrase approved by usage”; it is an unusual or even completely illogical way of saying something, which is accepted because by convention people use it very often and are familiar with its “hidden” meaning.
 

Idiomatic expressions are a lively part of almost all the world’s languages and underlying these phrases are historical, political, social or cultural events that have had a great deal to do with their creation. Myths and legends, folk stories, observations of nature and the endowment of animals with certain human traits will often create an idiomatic expression. Sometimes, a potent visual image underlies their origin, and metaphor, simile or hyperbole often underpins them. In a few instances the same image is conveyed across many languages, which demonstrates the universal need to colour ordinary speech with a powerful image whose common origin spans several cultures and linguistic groups. Idioms have sometimes been referred to as “miniature word poems” for these reasons.
 

One, however, should be wary of applying one’s own cultural yardsticks to another language and culture, since the same social situation, everyday object or common animal may be viewed differently in different cultures. A case in point is the fox, which in many Western cultures and languages is the archetypal illustration of cunning, craftiness and slyness. In other cultures, the fox may not be viewed in the same way! In Luke 13.32, Jesus uses the illustration of a “fox” to characterise the petty king, Herod Antipas. When the Greek term, Αλώπηξ, “fox”, was simply translated into English as “fox”, the intended meaning it had for Jesus’ hearers in the first century was missed, because the sociocultural connotations did not necessarily travel when this word was translated into another cultural setting.
 

Countless commentators have for years blithely assumed that “a fox, is a fox, is a fox” and that the idiomatic meaning underlying “fox” in all cultures is that of cunning and craftiness. The notion, “sly as a fox”, is assumed to be applied universally. However, many rabbinical illustrations reveal that in the ancient Judaean setting, and within the Hebraic sociolinguistic culture, the term “fox” (Hebrew shu’al) does not signify “sly” or “crafty” at all. Rather, it signifies “small fry,” “weak,” or “insignificant.” In Hebrew, the fox is the animal that is consistently used for contrast with “lion” (as an indication of someone strong or significant). In actuality therefore, Jesus was characterising Herod Antipas as an insignificant ruler rather than as a crafty or sly one.
 

The idioms that are unique to a certain language alone present a major stumbling block to foreign language learners when they encounter these offending phrases. To speak “idiomatically” is the aim of advanced foreign language learners. One’s competence in a language will often be judged, ultimately, on one’s command of the idioms of that language, as any solver of the English cryptic crossword will testify! Hence, familiarity with most of the commonly used idioms of a language is considered to be an essential feature of demonstrating competency in that language.

HIROSHIMA DAY 2013

“The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country.” - J. Robert Oppenheimer
 
On August 6, 1945, the United States of America used a massive, atomic weapon against Hiroshima, Japan. This was the first time an atomic bomb was used in warfare. The nuclear bomb, which packed the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT, flattened the city, killing tens of thousands of civilians. While Japan was still trying to comprehend this devastation three days later the United States struck again with another atomic bomb, this time dropping it on Nagasaki.
 
Japan marked the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima with a sombre ceremony to honour the dead, and once again pledged to seek the elimination of nuclear weapons from the world’s arsenals. Approximately 50,000 people stood for a minute of silence in Hiroshima's peace park near the epicentre of the early morning blast on Aug. 6, 1945, that killed up to 140,000 people. The bombing of Nagasaki three days later killed tens of thousands more people, prompting Japan’s surrender to the World War II Allies. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was one of the many dignitaries attending the event, and noted that as his was the only country in history to face a nuclear attack, it has the responsibility to seek to ban nuclear weapons.
 
The U.S.A and its allies have always maintained that the WWII bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary and helped save many more lives around the world by convincing Japan to surrender, bringing about an end to WWII. The sacrificing of tens of thousands of civilians as a means to an end, however noble this end seems to be, has always been a point of protest and argument against what has been characterised as an inhuman act, or as a war crime.
 
The sensitive anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing comes as Japan debates the role of nuclear energy, following the country’s 2011 earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster, which is still now having widespread and dangerous after-effects. Presently, almost all of Japan’s nuclear power plants remain shut down following the meltdowns at Fukushima, which spread radiation over a large area and forced thousands to flee the area. Prime Minister Abe and his party want to restart the plants following safety inspections, but the plan has proved controversial for many in the energy-dependent nation. Since the accident, there have been repeated safety concerns at the Fukushima power plant, where operators are struggling to contain radiation-contaminated water, which is now making its way to the ocean and contaminating intervening land and subsoil.
 
Humans are blessed with the largest and most powerful brain power in the animal kingdom. We have the capacity to think and our intellect gives us the ability to create and use knowledge in ways that allow us to control our environment in amazing ways. We have developed the power to create marvels: Great works of architecture, art, music, literature, engineering, invention… But we have also excelled in the arts of war, with an almost endless repertoire of destruction and cruelty within our means. We have the potential to be angels, but how much easier to be devils. It takes great effort to be “good” rather than “evil” and that is where the real power of an individual is manifest – to be creative, good and kind rather than destructive, evil and cruel.

THE SCRIBE

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” John W. Gardner
 
Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.
 
He worked primarily in the media of lithographs and woodcuts, though the few mezzotints he made are considered to be masterpieces of the technique. In his graphic art, he portrayed mathematical relationships among shapes, figures and space. Additionally, he explored interlocking figures using black and white to enhance different dimensions. Integrated into his prints were mirror images of cones, spheres, cubes, rings and spirals. Escher was left-handed…

Magpie Tales has chosen M.C. Escher’s “Drawing Hands” of 1948 as a stimulus for the creativity of the followers of her meme. Here is my poem inspired by this Escher drawing.
 
The Scribe
 
I create with hands clasping pencil;
With pencil drawing lines
That define the hands that guide the pencil,
That is driven by my desperate soul.
 
I write with hands holding pen;
The pen that dips into the inkwell of my heart,
Giving my lifeblood a voice of its own,
And my vehement emotions an outlet to vent.
 
I limn with hands that guide brush;
A brush that takes breaths from my lips
And rebreathes them in colour on a page
That outlines my spent desires and vain hopes.
 
I sketch with hands blackened by charcoal;
The charcoal not black enough to compare
To the blackest thoughts of my mind’s vacuum,
The emptiness of the void that was there
Ever since you left.

MOVIE MONDAY - FREQUENCY

“Our heirs, whatever or whoever they may be, will explore space and time to degrees we cannot currently fathom. They will create new melodies in the music of time. There are infinite harmonies to be explored.” - Clifford Pickover
 

We had some cold and wet weather over the weekend and it was very pleasant to be able to sit at home in the warmth and watch a movie in the afternoon. It was a rather interesting film that we did watch, Gregory Hoblit’s 2000 movie “Frequency” starring Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Shawn Doyle and Elizabeth Mitchell. The film was a science fiction drama based on the premise that communication between the future and the past is possible under a set of certain electromagnetic conditions triggered by solar flares. Once you get over this conceit, you can immerse yourself in the possibilities suggested by the movie, including the famous paradoxes where the possibility of time travel in one form or another allows one to change the course of history.
 

For example, one paradox is the idea that if one were able to go back in time, the time traveller could change things in the past by interfering with his own family history. The grandfather paradox and the idea of autoinfanticide are typical of this: In this paradox, a time traveller goes back in time and kills his grandfather at a time before his grandfather met his grandmother. If he did so, then his mother or father never would have been born, and neither would the time traveller himself, in which case the time traveller never would have gone back in time to kill his grandfather… Autoinfanticide works the same way, where a traveller goes back and attempts to kill himself as an infant. If he were to do so, he never would have grown up to go back in time to kill himself as an infant.
 

The plot of the movie has as follows: A rare atmospheric phenomenon triggered by solar flares in the 1960s and the 1990s allows a New York City firefighter in the past, to communicate with his son 30 years in the future via short-wave radio. The son uses this opportunity to warn the father of his impending death in a warehouse fire, and manages to save his life. However, what he does not realise is that changing history has triggered a new set of tragic events, including the murder of his mother. The two men must now work together, 30 years apart, to find the murderer before he strikes so that they can change history again.
 

We enjoyed this film as a thriller/mystery more than as a science fiction movie. Time played a role, but the interweaving stories of past and present were what made the film interesting and involving. The characters were interesting and believable, the family relationships portrayed were authentic and believable and the situations that father and son find themselves in through the tenuous connection over time are often poignant, sometimes humorous and at other times filled with suspense and mystery. The acting is very good and both Quaid as the father and Caviezel as the son do a sterling job with the material that has been given to them.
 

Toby Emmerich, better known as a film producer, wrote the story of this movie and he has managed to combine a great many original features with some old standards of the “Time travel” theme. The strong serial killer plotline that runs through the movie adds so much to the story and as the film progresses becomes an integral part of the story. Michael Kamen has provided an intelligent film score that doesn’t intrude but invests the action with suitable suspense and mystery. Cinematography by Alar Kivilo and film editing by David Rosenbloom contribute to the polished feel and look of the film. Watch it!

ART SUNDAY - HENRY MOORE

“Now I really make the little idea from clay, and I hold it in my hand. I can turn it, look at it from underneath, see it from one view, hold it against the sky, imagine it any size I like, and really be in control, almost like God creating something.” - Henry Moore
 

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English sculptor and artist. He is best known for his monumental bronze sculptures, which are located in various prominent public places. He became the most influential and famous sculptor of his generation. Henry Moore was born on 30 July, 1898, in Castleford, Yorkshire. He was the seventh child in a family of 8 children. His father worked in a colliery in Castleford but wanted his children to avoid working down the mines, so as much as possible given the family’s poverty, the children were educated at a local school.
 

It was in his teenage years that Henry developed an interest in art. His talent helped him to get a scholarship to Castleford Secondary school. Aged 18 he was called up to the army and in 1917 was injured during a gas attack at the Battle of Cambrai. After his injury, he spent the remainder of the war behind the lines training new recruits. Moore later said the war was for him not a traumatic experience - unlike that of many of his contemporaries.  After the war, he continued his education and in 1921 won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art.
 

Moore was a talented student, but already he was experimenting with new styles and this often created conflict with his teachers who were trying to teach the classic style of perfection in form and composition. Moore was attracted to a more spontaneous art form with imperfections evident in the sculpting. In 1924, he spent time travelling in Italy and later Paris. Here he could view the great Masters such as Michelangelo and Giovanni Pisano. But Moore was also influenced by his studies of primitive art, and at the Louvre he was particularly influenced by the Toltec-Maya sculptural form, the Chac Mool.
 

On his return to London, he took up a teaching post at the Royal College of art. This part time post enabled him to work on his own art, leading to his first commissions such as the “West Wind” (1928-29).  In the 1930s, Moore became an active member of the informal modern art movement, centred around the ideas and innovation of people like Pablo Picasso and Jean Arp. He also briefly flirted with the surrealist movement.
 

The Second World War led to more traditional commissions and Moore worked as a war artist producing memorable pictures such as images of civilians fleeing the Blitz in the London underground.  This helped Moore’s reputation and after the war led to numerous awards and opportunities in America. In 1948 he was awarded the International Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale. Significant commissions included: A reclining figure for UNESCO building in Paris 1956; A Nuclear energy sculpture at the University of Chicago. (to commemorate 25th anniversary of nuclear reaction); Knife Edge – Two Piece in 1962 for College Green, London around Houses of Parliament.
 

In 1972, Henry Moore established his Henry Moore Foundation - a charitable trust to promote art education and the support of young artists. He was a man of modest means. Despite his wealth and fame he lived frugally remembering his Yorkshire roots. He even turned down a knighthood in 1951 because he didn’t want to be seen as an establishment figure. Yet, during his lifetime he did become the dominant sculpture of his generation.
 

Moore’s organically shaped, abstract, bronze and stone figures constitute the major 20th-century manifestation of the humanist tradition in sculpture. Much of his work is monumental, and he was particularly well-known for a series of reclining nudes. The image above is characteristic of his work. It is the “Reclining Woman” of 1956. It is located at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, England (1962 cast, acquired by Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury).

MUSIC SATURDAY - CHABRIER

“Music causes us to think eloquently.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
For music Saturday, a little of the Music of Chabrier. Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier (January 18, 1841 – September 13, 1894) was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, “España” and “Joyeuse marche”, he left an important corpus of operas (including the increasingly popular “L’ étoile”), songs, and piano music as well.
 
His works, though small in number, are of very high quality, and he was admired by composers as diverse as Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Satie, Schmitt, Stravinsky, and the group of composers known as Les six. Stravinsky alluded to “España” in his ballet “Petrushka”, Ravel wrote that the opening bars of “Le Roi Malgré Lui” changed the course of harmony in France, Poulenc wrote a biography of the composer, and Richard Strauss conducted the first staged performance of Chabrier’s incomplete opera “Briséïs”.
 
Chabrier was also associated with some of the leading writers and painters of his time. He was especially friendly with the painters Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, and collected Impressionist paintings before Impressionism became fashionable. A number of such paintings from his personal collection are now housed in some of the world’s leading art museums.
 
Here are the four orchestrated pieces of his “Suite Pastoral: I: Idylle; II: Danse villageoise and in the second video, III: Sous bois; IV: Scherzo-valse. These are pieces from the piano suite “Dix Pièces Pittoresques”, the Ulster Orchestra is conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier.

FOOD FRIDAY - GREEK TZATZIKI

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.” - Isaac Bashevis Singer
 

Tzatziki is the Greek variation of a very trendy dip that has many versions in the neighbouring European and Middle Eastern countries. Good quality yoghurt is available throughout Greece and that yields a dip with a rich creamy texture. A true tzatziki in Greece is made of sheep or goat’s milk yoghurt as that is most readily available. In many places around the world, Greek style yoghurt is now available. Tzatziki can be served with a variety of foods as an accompaniment or it can be served with pita bread and vegetable sticks as a dip.
 

Tzatziki (Jajiki) Dip
Ingredients
 

2 cups Greek-style, natural yogurt
1 large English cucumber, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
 

Method
Line a colander or a sieve with cheesecloth and place over a bowl.
Add yoghurt and allow to drain, covered in refrigerator for about 2 hours. Discard liquid.
Place grated cucumber in a sieve over a bowl and let drain as well, for about 1 hour and reserve. Discard liquid.
In a small bowl, combine yogurt and cucumber with remaining ingredients and stir well with wooden spoon.
Season to taste and refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.
 

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

LAMMASTIDE & LUGHNASAD

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” – The New Testament, Matthew 4:4
 
August 1 is Lammastide (Lughnasad) and a Neopagan Sabbat. Lammastide, is named after Lammas, a contraction derived from “loaf mass”. It was on this day that the harvest beginning was celebrated.  The first cut sheaf of corn or the loaf of bread made from it, was offered in church to be blessed and ensure an abundant and untroubled harvest season. The Lammas Lands were the fields used for growing early crops or hay and these were opened on this day to allow common grazing until the next Spring.

           Till Lammas daie, called August’s wheel,
           When the long corn stinks of camamile.
 

In the Scottish Highlands, Lammastide became fused with Lugnasadh the festival of the Celtic god Lugh Lightborn.  This was celebrated with gatherings, bonfires, dancing, singing and sports.  It was one of the Quarter Days, when spirits walked the earth.  On this day, ladybird beetles caught should be released with the words:
           Lady, Lady Lanners
           Tak your cloak about your heid
           And fly away to Flanders.
           Fly ower moor and fly ower mead
           Fly ower living, fly ower dead;
           Fly ye East or fly ye west
           Fly to her (or him) that love me best.
 

The ladybird would then fly away and alight towards or on one’s beloved or their home.  At the Lammas Fair in Scotland it was also traditional to celebrate “handfast” marriages.  This consisted of unmarried persons of either sex to choose a companion according to their liking.  They were to live together until Lammas Day the next year.  If they were pleased with their match, they continued to live together for life; if not, they were free to choose another mate.
 

Harvesting of corn was a very important activity as it ensured the year’s supply of grain and flour.  The Harvest Lord or “King of the Mowers” was the most experienced and trusted man elected by the harvest workers to direct operations.  Reapers wore gloves to protect their hands from cuts and prickles while they cut the corn.
           Make sure of thy reapers, get harvest in hand
           The corn that is ripe, doth but shed as it stand.
           Grant Harvest Lord more, by a penny or two
           To call on his fellows better to do.
           Give gloves to thy reapers, a largess to cry
           And ever to loiterers have a good eye.

Five Hundred Good Points of Husbandry (1573); Thomas Tusser (ca 1520-1580)

ST IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

“I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.” - Albert Camus
 
July 31 is the Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). He was born on this day, in 1491, one of 13 children of a family of minor nobility in northern Spain. As a young man Ignatius Loyola was inflamed by the ideals of courtly love and knighthood and dreamed of doing great deeds as a brave knight. These plans were dashed in 1521, as Ignatius was gravely wounded in a battle with the French, when a cannon ball shattered his leg. Because there were no books of romance on hand during his convalescence, Ignatius whiled away the time reading books on the life of Christ and the lives of the saints. His conscience was deeply touched, and a long, painful turning to Christ began. As Ignatius experienced his conversion he decided to devote his life to God and His work.
 
Having seen the Mother of God in a vision, he made a pilgrimage to her shrine at Montserrat, near Barcelona. He remained at nearby Manresa for almost a year, sometimes with the Dominicans, sometimes in a pauper’s hospice, often in a cave in the hills, praying. After a period of great peace of mind, he went through a phase of doubt and undertook many harrowing physical and spiritual trials. There was no comfort in anything and he braved the extremes of the weather, fasted, subjected himself to great discomforts and prayed. At length, his peace of mind returned.
 
It was during this year of conversion that Ignatius began to write down material that later became his greatest work, the “Spiritual Exercises” (a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, divided into four thematic 'weeks' of variable length, designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days. They were composed with the intention of helping the retreatant to discern Jesus in his life, leading him or her to a personal commitment to follow him. Though the underlying spiritual outlook is Catholic, the exercises can also be undertaken by non-Catholics).
 
Ignatius had always wanted to visit the Holy Land since his conversion, and finally he achieved his purpose of going there, but could not remain, as he planned, because of the hostility of the Turks. He spent the next 11 years in various European universities, studying with great difficulty, beginning almost as a child. Like many others, his orthodoxy was questioned; Ignatius was twice jailed for brief periods.
 
In 1534, at the age of 43, he and six others (one of whom was St. Francis Xavier) vowed to live in poverty and chastity and to go to the Holy Land. If this became impossible, they vowed to offer themselves to the apostolic service of the Pope. The latter became the only choice. Four years later Ignatius made the association permanent. The new Society of Jesus was approved by Paul III, and Ignatius was elected to serve as the first general. When companions were sent on various missions by the Pope, Ignatius remained in Rome, consolidating the new venture, but still finding time to found homes for orphans, catechumens and penitents. He founded the Roman College, intended to be the model of all other colleges of the Society.
 
Ignatius was a true mystic. He centred his spiritual life on the essential foundations of Christianity—the Trinity, Christ, the Eucharist. His spirituality is expressed in the Jesuit motto, “Ad majorem Dei gloriam” (For the greater glory of God). In his concept, obedience was to be the prominent virtue, to assure the effectiveness and mobility of his men. All activity was to be guided by a true love of the Church and unconditional obedience to the Holy Father, for which reason all professed members took a fourth vow to go wherever the Pope should send them for the salvation of souls.

Ignatius died in July 1556, was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1609, canonised by Pope Gregory XV in 1622, and declared patron of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922. Ignatius is a foremost patron saint of soldiers, the Society of Jesus, the Basque Country, and the provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay. Of the institutions dedicated to Saint Ignatius, one of the most famous is the Basilica of St Ignatius Loyola, built next to the house where he was born in Azpeitia, the Basque Country, Spain. The house itself, now a museum, is incorporated into the basilica complex. His legacy includes many Jesuit schools and educational institutions worldwide. In the United States alone there are 28 Jesuit colleges and universities and more than 50 secondary schools.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP DAY

“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” - Helen Keller
 
Today is International Friendship Day. This is a day devoted to promoting friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of their race, color or religion. Such a day has been celebrated in South American countries (and especially in Paraguay) for a long time, where the idea for a World Friendship Day was proposed back in 1958. Friendship Day observations have been held on different dates in different countries, but in 2011 the United Nations declared that the 30th of July would be the official International Friendship Day. A few countries in Asia, nevertheless, still celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August every year.
 
In the USA, a Friendship Day was first proposed by the greeting card industry when Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1930, chose August 2nd as the day when people should celebrate their friendships by sending each other cards. This initiative was welcomed and further championed by the National Greeting Card Association in the 1930s, but failed to catch on with the public because it was seen at the time as a thinly disguised commercial ploy to sell greeting cards. By the 1940s the support for Friendship Day in the USA had diminished to the extent that the observation of Friendship Day nearly died out.
 
Several countries in Asia that had adopted Friendship Day, kept it alive until the UN declaration in 2011 brought it to worldwide attention once again. Friendship Day gifts such flowers, cards and jewellery are commonly exchanged amongst friends in Asia and South America. “Friendship bands”, especially, have become a traditional gift exchanged in countries like India, Nepal and Paraguay.
 
Since the UN’s official recognition of International Friendship Day in 2011, all Member States have been invited to observe the commemorative day in accordance with the culture and customs of their local, national and regional communities, including through education and public awareness-raising activities. The promotion of friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of their race, colour or religion is a noble thing and it has resonated widely throughout the world.
 
“A friend,” the Heinemann Australian Dictionary defines as: “Someone whom one knows and likes well”. True enough, but rather clinical for one of the most complex and worthy of human relationships. Also a “friend” is a term that has become rather loosely used over time to define all sorts of more or less shades of meaning in several types of positive human relationships. Someone who is not our enemy is our friend, people we went to school with were our friends, the people in our neighbourhood that we greet everyday are friends, the people we are acquainted with and feel agreeable towards are our friends. But also those with whom we forge a special bond and thrive on their company when we interact with them are also our friends.
 
Humans are social animals and forming attachments to other people is an inevitable feature of being human. However, varying degrees of intimacy, appreciation, interaction, affection, love and regard are involved in these different types of friendly relationships. The generic term “friend”, has replaced the more specific meaning which means a person with whom we have a close and intimate relationship, with whom we form a special bond, where both people involved value and understand each other as individuals and accept and appreciate each other as they are.
 
I am not the first to write about friendship, nor will be the last. Many before me have very eloquently written about the inestimable value of a true friend. Perhaps the essence of friendship has been distilled by Antoine St Exupéry in “The Little Prince”. He defines friendship as a process akin to taming a wild animal, a formation of bonds. This is a good definition, for in taming something we build bridges of trust, we learn about what we tame, we understand it, we appreciate it. Establishment of bonds is a two-way process and we each gain through that effort a person who becomes different from everyone else for us, a special person. A person whom we can turn to, a person who always has time for us: “I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.” Robert Brault remarks. At the same time, Exupéry says, forming bonds creates responsibilities. Being a friend carries with it a mental attitude and an important code of behaviour that should be adhered to.

Friendship involves co-operation. Ralph Waldo Emerson says: “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”  Each person must contribute to the creation of the bonds and in the process get to know the other person better. Each person’s virtues and talents are appreciated, their faults and weaknesses forgiven. “True Friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance. A want of discernment cannot be an ingredient in it.” Henry David Thoreau, remarks. There is trust and interdependence in friendship, respect and loyalty. True friends share their lives, the happiness and the misfortune. Especially so the sharing of good fortune and happiness, which a friend can accept without envy or jealousy as, “Too few rejoice at a friend's good fortune.” Aeschylus says.  A friend listens, understands, offers advice but doesn’t try to influence your decisions, just accepts them. Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes...
 
How do we choose our friends? They are not commodities to be sold and bought, we have to discover them and win them over. We need patience and forbearance, tolerance and good humour. In our friends we mirror the best part of ourselves and forgive our worst part. What initially attracts us to someone may turn to disenchantment as we get to know the person better or as their actions belie their words. A person who on first impression we dislike may win our affection and confidence as we journey on together.
 
The development of a friendship is like the planting of a seedling. We select what seems to be the healthiest, strongest, greenest sprout, plant it in good soil and take pains to care for it, water it, guard it from extremes of weather. We watch with delight and as the plant grows we free it from caterpillars and aphids. It buds and rewards us with an exquisite bloom. “We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed.” Says James Boswell, “As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of kindnesses there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over.”

I share many of my interests with my friends, but at the same time I value those things that interest my friends and I have no experience of or no regard for. I agree with many of my friends’ opinions but I have built friendships where the other person has an opinion that is diametrically opposed to mine. I accept, tolerate and respect that difference in opinion. There is a broadening of experience and enrichment of existence that comes with friendship, a new knowledge and a discovery of unknown things. Together we complement one another, we learn from one another, we depend on one another. Despite our differences we are united. Friends help you move – Real friends help you move dead bodies...
 
Truth and frankness are important in a friendship but being tactful and keeping one’s criticisms to oneself at certain critical times is also important. Mignon McLaughlin remarks on the matter: “It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to friendship that we are not.” Nevertheless, a friend forgives, accepts, empathises: “Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you.” says Elbert Hubbard. We look at our friends’ actions and we comment on them, we judge, but do not condemn. Arnold Bennett encapsulates this well in his epigram: “It is well, when judging a friend, to remember that he is judging you with the same godlike and superior impartiality.”

The value of a true friendship is further appreciated when we discover for one reason or another that someone whom we considered as a true friend has betrayed us. This may happen because of a multitude of reasons, but as E.M. Forster says, “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” When one is betrayed by a friend, the feeling is one of disillusionment, bitterness, dismay and scorn. When we lose someone we considered a true friend, it is as if the person had died, or as if something within us died for as Aristotle says: “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

Happy Friendship Day, share a little of it with some of your friends!

MOVIE MONDAY - ROOSTER COGBURN

“Chemistry can be a good and bad thing. Chemistry is good when you make love with it. Chemistry is bad when you make crack with it.” - Adam Sandler
 
At the weekend we watched an old Western the likes of which aren't made any more. I would say that even for its time it was “old-fashioned”, and it was no surprise given it starred that legend of westerns, John Wayne, in his second last film role before he died. The film was Stuart Millar’s 1975 flick “Rooster Cogburn”, starring John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Zerbe. It had everything a western should have, good guys, bad guys, shootouts, gold robberies, horses, Indians, magnificent scenery and a plot that would satisfy all expectations of the westerns lover.
 
The film is a sequel, building on John Wayne’s character of Rooster Cogburn from his earlier film “True Grit” of 1969. This previous film was so popular that a sequel was a no-brainer, given Wayne’s health being relatively good and Katharine Hepburn looking for something she could co-star in with Wayne.  Hepburn was one of John Wayne's biggest boosters of his talent, even though their politics clashed.
 
Rooster Cogburn (Wayne) is on the trail of a gang that massacred an army patrol and stole a gatling gun and a load of nitroglycerine to use in a bullion robbery they are planning. The gang headed by Richard Jordan with Anthony Zerbe who used to scout for Wayne go to an Indian settlement with a missionary school headed by father preacher (Jon Lormer) and daughter teacher (Hepburn). The gang shoots up the place and kills the preacher.  When Cogburn arrives on the scene, he gets saddled with Hepburn and an Indian teenager (Richard Romancito) who has just been orphaned in the massacre. The unlikely pair accompany him on the trail of Jordan and his gang and get enough adventure to last a lifetime.
 
Hepburn playing teacher Eula Goodnight can be compared to Rose Sayer in “The African Queen”. Although there are many similarities, there are also fundamental differences and the increased years of Hepburn in the 1975 role are in harmony with the more experienced woman of the world that Eula is, compared to Rose Sayer – who incidentally is much more of an action woman. This film was written around the two stars and is a perfect vehicle for their talents. They settle comfortably in their roles and have good chemistry, one seeing that they liked each other quite a lot. Hepburn said at the time that she thought John Wayne projected the same sense of integrity that Spencer Tracy did on the screen – and that’s quite a compliment coming from her!
 
We enjoyed the sense of nostalgia that the film exuded, bringing back memories of a simpler time – and I don’t mean the frontier days, I mean my youth!  The music by Laurence Rosenthal was suitably expansive and rhapsodic at times complementing wonderfully the magnificent cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr. Charles Portis who wrote the screenplay based it on the the character of Rooster Cogburn from the novel “True Grit” and he has done his best to accommodate the stars of the film in a plot that is engaging albeit conventional. We recommend the film, if nothing else for the great chemistry between the two stars towards the end of their careers.

ART SUNDAY - THOMAS EAKINS

“Nudity is the costume of lovers and corpses.” - Mason Cooley
 

Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was born on July 25, 1844, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he was an American painter, fine arts instructor, sculptor, and photographer. Eakins was born to Benjamin Eakins and Caroline Cowperthwait - his father, a second-generation Irish-American, was a calligrapher and writing master who greatly supported Thomas and his passion for art. Thomas attended the Zane Street Grammar School and later went to the prestigious Central High School in Philadelphia. He graduated on July 11, 1861, and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied art, and for a short time, he also studied anatomy at Jefferson Medical College.
 

He was able to avoid fighting in the Civil War, unlike some of his friends, because of the $25 bounty he paid.  From 1866 to 1870, Eakins travelled to Europe where he spent much time studying and apprenticing in France and Spain. He studied with Gérôme, A. A. Dumont, Bonnat, and he admired artists such as Velázquez. Around this time he tried painting his own works such as “A Street Scene in Seville” and “Carmelita Requeña”. In fact, later in life Gérôme was quoted as saying to Eakins “Your watercolour is entirely good and I am very pleased to have in the New World a pupil such as you who does me honour.”
 

Eakins returned home from Europe in 1870 and moved back to Philadelphia where he took up a teaching job at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1876. He also had some creative high points around this time as he created “Max Schmitt in a Single Scull” in 1871, and “The Gross Clinic” in 1875, which is perhaps his most famous work. It depicts a much-respected surgeon watching over other surgeons operating on a person’s thigh, which caused controversy at the time due to its graphic nature.  It was first shown during the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and sold for $250. As Helen C. Cooper, curator of American paintings and sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery says “This extraordinary work celebrates a different kind of human achievement - that of a great surgeon - but it too combines the best of head and hand. It owes much to the lesson of the rowers [in the painting of Max Schmitt].”
 

Eakins became director at the academy in 1882, where he was quite popular with the student body.  Eakins personal life around this time included change as well. He had been engaged to Kathrin Crowell in 1874, but she died in 1879 at age 30 from meningitis. He later married Susan Macdowell on January 19, 1884 in Philadelphia. It was also in 1887 that Eakins became friends with Walt Whitman until his death in 1892. Thomas Eakins teachings though at the academy became very controversial, especially among the administration as he used nude models in person, used dissection in class to learn about anatomy, watched athletes perform for motion lessons, and used oil paints. Due to these teaching techniques, he was forced under pressure to resign from his post in 1886.
 

This was a very unhappy time for Eakins and these events caused him severe depression and humiliation, so much so that it caused him to move to North Dakota for two years. However, a few years later Eakins broke through with creativity in his works. Some of his other famous works around this time include “The Swimming Hole” painted from 1884-45 which Eakins scholar Elizabeth Johns labels “…the most intense, the most thought-provoking picture,” “The Agnew Clinic” finished in 1889, “The Concert Singer” from 1890-1892, and “Miss Amelia C. Van Buren” completed in 1890.
 

It was not until the early 1900s though that Eakins gained public notoriety in his works. He mainly focused on portraits around this time and some of them include Portrait of Maud Cook from 1895, Archbishop William Henry Elder from 1903, and Monsignor James P. Turner completed in 1906. In addition to his paintings, Eakins also used the camera extensively, especially to help with the subjects in his paintings. In 1902, Eakins finally was accepted into the National Academy of Design.
 

Thomas Eakins has had a huge influence on the arts and humanities since his death. Though often over-looked when he was alive, today he is studied around the world. He is a major study in sexuality studies in art especially. Also, his realism in painting and his focus on portraits has left an impact on future artists such as Thomas Anshutz and Henry Tanner. Some critics though still say he was too traditional and relied too heavily on family and friends for his paintings. Critics and the people in his portraits at the time often were displeased by their melancholy appearance, perhaps influenced by Eakins’ own depression. Overall though, by examining Eakins galleries and paintings in today’s museums, as Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr, the National Gallery’s Curator of American and British Paintings from Yale University notes, it, “…allows you to burrow into the artist’s work … and see Eakins for the first time as a mature artistic personality.”
 

Thomas Eakins died on June 25, 1916, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He had been in declining health for years and many speculate it was due to lead poisoning because of the type of paints he employed in his work. He died from heart failure around one o’clock on the 25th, surrounded by his wife, friends, and some of his old students. He requested that he be cremated and that no flowers or funeral be given. His ashes now lay in a family plot near the Schuylkill River along with his wife Susan, who passed away in 1938.
 

“The Agnew Clinic” above, finished in 1889, is a companion work to his earlier “The Gross Clinic” of 1875, and in this later work, Eakins uses dramatic lighting of the foreground to draw attention to the surgery being performed in front of a class of surgery students. As a group portrait, this recalls “The Anatomy Lesson Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” painted in 1632 by Rembrandt. The intensity of the scene, the concentration of the aces and the rapt attention of the students in the dark background make this an arresting work, but still perhaps slightly shocking for the faint-hearted.

MONTEVERDI'S "L' ORFEO"

“They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies.” - William Penn
 

“L’ Orfeo” (SV 318), sometimes called “L’ Orfeo, favola in musica”, is a late Renaissance/early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. Written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua, “L’Orfeo” is one of the earliest music dramas still regularly performed.
 

Claudio Monteverdi, born in Cremona in 1567, was a musical prodigy who studied under Marc’ Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di cappella (head of music) at Cremona Cathedral. After training in singing, strings playing and composition, Monteverdi worked as a musician in Verona and Milan until, in 1590 or 1591, he secured a post as suonatore di vivuola (viola player) at Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga’s court at Mantua. Through ability and hard work Monteverdi rose to become Gonzaga’s maestro della musica in 1601.
 

Vincenzo Gonzaga’s particular passion for musical theatre and spectacle grew from his family connections with the court of Florence. Towards the end of the 16th century innovative Florentine musicians were developing the intermedio (a long-established form of musical interlude inserted between the acts of spoken dramas) into increasingly elaborate forms. Led by Jacopo Corsi, these successors to the renowned Camerata were responsible for the first work generally recognised as belonging to the genre of opera: “Dafne”, composed by Corsi and Jacopo Peri and performed in Florence in 1598.
 

"Dafne" combined elements of madrigal singing and monody with dancing and instrumental passages to form a dramatic whole. Only fragments of its music still exist, but several other Florentine works of the same period (“Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo” by Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Peri’s “Euridice” and Giulio Caccini’s identically titled “Euridice” survive complete). These last two works were the first of many musical representations of the Orpheus myth as recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and as such were direct precursors of Monteverdi’s “L'Orfeo”.
 

Here is the complete "L' Orfeo" of Monteverdi performed by La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Conducted by Jordi Savall, with stage settings by Gilbert Deflo and directed by Brian Large. The painting above is by Margherita Fascione.

WINTER SOUP

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” - William Blake
 
It’s still Winter here in Melbourne despite the blooming of the bulb flowers and the riotous yellow of the flowering wattles. Soups are de rigueur, and here is an easy but delicious wintry offering.
 
CREAM OF CELERY AND MUSHROOM SOUP
Ingredients
 
1/4 cup butter
1 and 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 leek (white portion only)
1 can of cream of celery soup
1 and 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
Nutmeg, thyme, pepper to taste
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
 
Method
Sauté the chopped leek in the butter until tender.  Add the mushrooms and cook thoroughly until golden, stirring all the while.  Add the soup and heat through, stirring while adding the milk and parsley.  Simmer for about 15 minutes, adding a little more milk to maintain the volume constant.  Add the spices and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Mix in the grated cheese and serve immediately, garnished with a sprig of parsley.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

A SAD SANTIAGO DAY

“For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” - William Penn
 
Today is the anniversary of the birthday of:

Henry Doulton, potter (1820);

Arthur Balfour, British PM (1848);

Eric Hoffer, author (1902);

Elias Canetti, Bulgarian author (1905);

Jack Gilford, actor (1907);

Paul J Weitz, US astronaut (1932);

Janet Margolin, actress (1943);

Louise Brown, world’s 1st test tube baby (1978).
 
Purple lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is today’s birthday flower. It means in the language of flowers: “Do you still love me?”.  It is symbolic of memory, first love and fastidiousness.
 
Today is said to be an auspicious day for commencing journeys. Both St Christopher and St James are traveller Saints and are invoked for special protection by travellers.  St Christopher (from the Greek Christos + Phoros means “Christ bearer”), according to legend was a giant who carried the infant Jesus on his shoulders across a flooded rushing river.  A St Christopher medal is carried by travellers and its adoration in the morning protects the faithful from harm during that day. In the Low Countries, St Christopher was identified with the Norse god of thunder, rain and farming, Thor. Well into the middle ages St Christopher was invoked (just as Thor was invoked) against thunderstorm-induced damage to their crops. The flowers dedicated to St Christopher are the vetch, meadowsweet, fleabane and royal fern.
 
Many people in Spain celebrate the life and deeds of James, son of Zebedee, on Saint James' Day (Santiago Apostol), which celebrated today, July 25. St James (Santiago) is the Patron Saint of Spain. James was one of Jesus’ first disciples. Some Christians believe that his remains are buried in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. St James travelled from Palestine to Spain where he preached the Gospel. His principal shrine in Compostella attracts many pilgrims to make the journey from all around Europe to adore his burial place.  He is the protector of pilgrims and they often wore the Compostella scallop shell as a badge as a symbol of their pilgrimage and the saint’s protection. Today is an auspicious day for picking chicory, as this plant (Cichorium intybus) is dedicated to St James.
 
This year of course, it is a sad day for Spain and Compostella as the train accident that killed about 80 people and injured many more is an occurrence that will mark the lives of hundreds of families indelibly. The driver of a Spanish high-speed train that derailed, killing at least 80 people, has been named as a suspect in one of Europe’s worst rail accidents. A court in Santiago de Compostela ordered police to question Francisco Jose Garzon, 52, who had admitted to driving at 190 kilometres per hour on a curve where the speed limit was 80km/h.
 
The train carrying 218 passengers from Madrid to Ferrol derailed and split apart late on Wednesday at Angrois, about 4km from the regional capital, Santiago de Compostela. Officials confirmed that the number of dead had risen from 78 to 80. Ninety-five injured people remained in hospital. Thirty-six of them, including four children, were in critical condition. The injured included several citizens of the US and the UK, the two countries’ embassies said.

POSTCARD FROM SYDNEY

“The party is a true art form in Sydney and people practise it a great deal. You can really get quite lost in it.” - Baz Luhrmann
 

Sydney is known as the Harbour City and with good reason as it is built around a magnificent natural harbour. It is the largest, oldest and most cosmopolitan city in Australia with an enviable reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It is full of history, culture, art, fashion, cuisine, design and within the city or a short distance from it are areas of great natural beauty, The city is set next to kilometres of ocean coastline and sandy surf beaches. Recent immigration trends have led to the cities reputation as one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in Australia and the world. The city is also home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, two of the most iconic structures on the planet.
 

The Greater Sydney area is a vast sprawling metropolitan area with the suburbs spreading up to 100km from the city centre. The traveller visiting the suburbs will find less crowded beaches, parks, cheaper shopping, commercial centres, cultural festivals, and hidden gems. The Eastern Suburbs are between the City and the sea, and include the world-famous Bondi Beach and other city beaches, which are strong drawcards for visitors and residents in the city during summer.
 

The City Centre is the busy centre of government and finance, but also home to many famous attractions, fine restaurants, and shopping. Just to the west of Circular Quay, is the Rocks, the first colonial village of Sydney and the iconic Harbour Bridge, which are now a cosmopolitan and touristic area. Immediately to the west of the CBD is Darling Harbour, an extensive leisure and entertainment area. You can see restaurants, boardwalks, aquariums, wildlife, and museums by foot or from above by monorail. In the City South district is the Haymarket, Chinatown and Central Station, being an area home to markets, cafes, Chinese culture and cuisine, and some cheaper accommodation and shopping. In the City East region, are Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Woolloomooloo and Moore Park. It’s here where you can sample the busy nightlife, trendy coffee shops, fashion and entertainment. The City West area is best seen in early morning, with a trip to the bustling fish markets, and then exploring the Powerhouse Museum, finding a maritime pub or vistiing The Star Casino.
 

Southern Sydney is the area south of the CBD and north of the Georges River, including the areas surrounding Sydney Airport and Brighton Le Sands on Botany Bay. In the Inner West are Sydney’s original suburbs, which are now bohemian and a hub of cheap eats, shopping and inner-city culture. Also contains Sydney Olympic Park, the home of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, parks, cycling, and events.
 

In the Lower North Shore, over the Harbour Bridge are leafy residential areas stretching northwards. The North Shore also has major commercial and retail areas at North Sydney and Chatswood, many smaller boutique shopping areas, and many parks and gardens, and Sydney’s famous Taronga Zoo. The Upper North Shore  includes leafy residential areas, national parks and waterways. The Northern Beaches stretch from Manly, North along the coast to Palm Beach. The North West contains the Northern Districts with includes Sydney’s Silicon Valley at Macquarie Park, the northern side of the western reaches of Sydney Harbour, and the largely residential area of the Hills District in the north-west of the city.
 

Parramatta is considered Sydney’s “second CBD”, with history, shopping, eating, all just 30 minutes from the city centre. Sutherland Shire is the district to the far south and east of the city centre including Cronulla and Captain Cook’s Landing Place. The South West contains the centres of Liverpool and Campbelltown, which are a large swathe of residential and commercial Sydney locales. In the Outer West is a vast area stretching from Parramatta out to the Blue Mountains. The Hawkesbury is a semi-rural area to the northwest of the city, centred around the Hawkesbury River. Its main towns are Richmond and Windsor.
 

If you are visiting Sydney and are serious about getting to know the greater metropolitan area, ensure you allow yourself plenty of time as there are numerous attractions, a huge area to explore and an immense variety of experiences ranging from the cultural to the consumeristic, options that take in natural beauty or the hustle and bustle of one of the great metropolitan centres of the world.

MEAD MOON

“It’s my friend Jimmy Lynch. But there’s much more to this painting than Jimmy. When I was young, I used to ride horse and motorcycles at night along with the local farm boys - in the middle of summer in the middle of the night, all of us naked. I was intrigued by the bodies of those farm kids - their faces so tanned, their bodies, covered up by their work clothes, looking like they were covered with wax. Nude bodies streaking around at night always impressed me. When I was doing this painting, I’d take off my clothes and, together, Jimmy and I would drive around - at two in the morning on his big Harley-Davidson. It wasn’t cold, for it was late August. The mist at night was fascinating. It combines the mystery of my youth with the shock of today. I have to laugh, for this one turns most people off.” - Andrew Wyeth
 
Magpie Tales has chosen Andrew Wyeth’s 1990 painting “Man and the Moon” as a stimulus for engendering creativity amongst the community of Magpie Talers. Here is my contribution:
 
Mead Moon
 
And when the wild ride was over,
He stood beside his steel steed, naked as the truth,
And looked up to see the Mead Moon rise.
 
The moonbeams tangled as they touched his skin
Knitting a translucent chain mail shirt,
Cooling his white-hot flesh, but not dousing his ardour.
 
And when the others had all left, he alone stood there,
Brave enough to confront his solitude,
The headlight paling into insignificance as moon shone on.
 
She smiled at him, the moon, amused by his feebleness
Although his young body concealed taut muscle, tough sinew,
His hands strong enough to squeeze the life out of one.
 
And when his thoughts finally had run out of his head,
Swarming around him like a hive of buzzing bees, he looked up
And invoked ancient spells, extracted from his latent femininity.
 
The night was mystic and the moon a witch bewitching,
And the sky tore like stiff cardboard and stars fell, like silver rain,
And the moonlight screamed while streaming down,
And his heart beat like huge bass drum, insistent.
 
And when the spell was done, he looked at himself with new eyes,
Able to admit at last his innermost desires, they too naked;
And he mounted on his steed and chased after the reality
Of what was some moments before, only a dream.

MOVIE MONDAY - RAINCOAT

“Let no one who loves be called altogether unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow.” - J.M. Barrie
 
We watched an Indian film at the weekend, loosely based on O. Henry’s short story, “The Gift of the Magi”. This short story tells of a young impoverished couple who love each other very much, and at Christmas give each other gifts that neither of them can afford, or in the end, neither needs anymore. It is nevertheless proof of the immense love they have for each other. The film was Rituparno Ghosh’s 2004 production, “Raincoat”, starring Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and  Annu Kapoor.
 
Mannu (Devgn) lives with his mother in a village outside Calcutta and has become unemployed as the jute factory he was working at closed down. As the money runs out, he decides to travel to the big city in order to borrow some money from his old (and now successful) school friends in order to start his own business. He stays with friends in Calcutta, and the wife (Mouli Ganguli) in particular, understands his difficult situation and tries to help him. Mannu has another reason for visiting Calcutta. It is to visit his former girlfriend, Neeru (Rai Bachchan), whom he was to marry, but who preferred to marry someone richer from Calcutta.
 
The two former sweethearts have not seen each other for years and during a rainy afternoon in Neeru’s old house, in a room filled with antique furniture and bric-a-brac they talk about their lives. Each of them tells a false story to save their pride. Neither of them is happy and they wish to conceal that from each other, and while the afternoon drags on, they remember the past with nostalgia and remorse. At one point, Neeru puts on Mannu’s raincoat, so she can go out and buy something for him to eat as she is fasting. She warns him not to open the windows nor to let anyone in. Nevertheless, when alone, Mannu opens the windows and a man approaches, requesting entry into the house to use the toilet. Mannu lets him in, and afterwards the two begin to converse. It during this conversation that Mannu learns the truth about Neeru, her husband, and their married life…
 
The film is a poignant romantic story, slow-paced and intimate. While the central theme is taken from O. Henry’s story, Rituparno Ghosh (who wrote the scenario as well as directing) very definitely makes it his own and contextualises it to highlight some of the problems of contemporary Indian reality. The rain that forces Mannu to borrow a raincoat from his friends and the same rain that causes Neeru to wear it when she exits the house, is catalytic in dissolving the web of lies that the two former sweethearts have constructed. The darkness of the old house, the crowded room and the candlelight (so important in highlighting Neeru’s state of affairs) make for a look that has the dull glow of silver covered by the patina of time. The exquisite music and poetry of the film add to the mystery and pathos of the situation.
 
The dialogues in the script are insightful and packed with numerous details that hint at the reality behind the sham, the essence beneath the façades that each of the characters builds. There is much talk in this movie and not much action, however, the dialogues are engaging and poetic, revealing and filled with a rawness of emotion that immerses us in the predicament of the two leads. At one point, the narrator reciting some poetry epitomises the desperate situation that the two sweethearts currently find themselves in.
 
All of the actors play with conviction and make the most of their lines. Both Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan immerse themselves in the pent-up emotions of the characters they play and although there are many raw, unspoken feelings, we are aware of the characters’ inner turmoil and infinite regrets they have. They play with great restraint and elegance, making the most of the seemingly casual lines they often deliver, their faces showing us the reality neither of them will admit to.
 
This film is mellow and bitter-sweet, well acted and directed, with wonderful dialogue, costumes and sets. Its music complements the action well and the whole production is amongst the best I have seen in Indian films. It is definitely worth seeing, however, don’t expect action and thrills, but rather a piece from the heart for the heart. The star-crossed lovers and their sacrifices are touching and poignant, the film is intelligent and visually satisfying, as well as beautiful on many levels. Well worth seeing…
 
On 30 May 2013, the director Rituparno Ghosh suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away in Calcutta at the age of 49. He was suffering from pancreatitis.  Rituparno Ghosh was first acknowledged in the 90’s when he made films in Bengali with strong and sensitive subjects. He went on to direct some Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in major productions. Ghosh won many national awards and his film “Chokher Bali” starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Raima Sen was nominated for Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 2003.

ART SUNDAY - DEGAS

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” - Edgar Degas
 

Edgar Degas was born in Paris France on July 19, 1834 to Célestine Musson De Gas and Augustin De Gas who was a wealthy banker. He was the oldest of five children. Degas began to paint as a young boy. By the time he turned eighteen, he had turned his bedroom into an artist's studio. He registered to be an art copyist at the Louvre museum in Paris, the done thing for young artists being to copy paintings there, thus developing their skill. He was one of the few artists of the time who had plenty of money and could devote himself wholeheartedly to his art.
 

In 1855, Degas met Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres whose art he respected very much. He never forgot his advice: “Draw lines, young man, and still more lines, both from life and from memory, and you will become a good artist”. Later that same year Degas enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and studied drawing with Louis Lamothe who was a former student of Ingres. After having finished his studies he went to Italy where he stayed for five years, studying and copying meticulously the old masters of the Renaissance. His decision to study the old masters was typical for his personality - that of a perfectionist.
 

Back in France in 1859, Degas exhibited his works for the first five years at the official Salon in Paris. Later he joined the Impressionists and showed his artwork in their exhibitions from 1874 to 1886. The favourite subjects of Degas were scenes from the world of entertainment and later from everyday life. Ballet dancers, little ballerinas, women in intimate situations and horse races are the subjects that are immediately associated with him. Degas in contrast to his impressionist colleagues, preferred to work in a studio. He made sketches of his subjects on the spot and created the painting later in his studio. Toulouse-Lautrec, who was a great admirer of Edgar Degas, had the same work style.
 

Degas' “Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer”, which he displayed at the sixth Impressionist exhibition in 1881 is one of his most famous works. It was also one of his most controversial. Some art critics thought it was of “appalling ugliness” while others called it a “blossoming”. He wanted to show his dancer at rest, in an unposed way. The young dance student that posed for Degas was Marie van Goethem. Though she never became a famous dancer, she always will be remembered from Degas' work.
 

Japanese prints were very popular at the end of the nineteenth century and had a great influence on the French impressionists. Edgar Degas was one of the admirers of Japanese prints. Their influence can be seen in some of his daring compositions using large areas of flat colour. Degas was an artist torn between traditional art and the modern impressionist movement. He admired the French artist Ingres and the great Italian painters. His own compositions of images are harmonious and follow the traditions of the old masters. And what often looks like the spontaneous sketch of a fleeting moment, was in reality the elaborate result of a perfectionist at work. From the impressionists he had learned the use of creating effects with light, a daring use of colour and new ways to show the human figure in motion.
 

Degas used a wide variety of mediums and techniques. When he grew older, he turned to sculpturing, pastels and printmaking. Striving for perfection, he repeated the same subjects again and again. When he concentrated on printmaking in the nineties, his preferred subjects were female nudes, either nude women at their toilette or nude dancers. Edgar Degas had a collection of decorative utensils like a bathtub, a sofa and a curtained bed in a corner of his studio, which he used to assist his models posing for him.
 

During the war with Germany in 1870-1871 Degas served in the French army. Since his time in the army, he developed problems with his eyes, although the exact medical cause is not precisely known. In his late years the artist's eyesight deteriorated more and more. He was unable to create paintings and focussed his artistic creativity on sculptures. Degas formed his sculptures using wax or clay. Favourite subjects were ballerinas and race horses. When Degas had died, he left more than 2000 oil paintings and pastel drawingss and 150 sculptures. The sculpture models were all cast after his death. Even before his death, Degas was considered an important artist. His colourful works of everyday life crossed over the accepted ways of creating art, his work collectively being considered a corpus of great beauty. Degas himself is now recognised as one of the greatest Impressionists.
 

The work reproduced above is The Entrance of the Masked Dancers” of 1884 - pastel on paper (49x65 cm, at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts USA).