Greek Art and The Italian Renaissance

It's common knowledge that the Renaissance in Italy, which began arguably in the late 12th century, was deeply influenced by Roman art and sculpture, which in turn was greatly inspired by Classical Greek art and sculpture. But seeing direct relationships between Renaissance paintings created during the 1400s and Greek sculpture from around 500 BC - a gap of 2000 years - in the flesh, is quite a delight.

The Greek relief sculptures below (both are from the Archaeological Museum in Athens) are marble stelae (or upright slabs) used to decorate the graves of Greek nobility. The composition of the relief with the woman bowing down in grief, closely resembles the structure of Annunciation paintings of the Renaissance. Even the hand gesture of the figure holding a bowl predicts the hand gesture of the Angel Gabriel as he blesses the Virgin in some paintings. The Annunciation is the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. I've chosen Fra Angelico's Angelico's fresco in Florence (1437-1446) here as an example.

The second stelae, which shows (if I remember correctly) a father bidding farewell to his young son, suspiciously resembles the composition of the right side of Masaccio's The Tribute Money (1427) fresco in Florence. Masaccio's painting shows St. Peter paying off a tax collector.

Makis and Greek Roadside Shrines

I wish I'd met Makis Rafailidis at the beginning of my trip to Greece. This Athenian taxi-driver was super-friendly, and I quickly trusted him to take me on two day-trips (at the end of my holiday) - one to Delphi and the other to Mycenae/Naphlion/Epidaurus/Corinth. His rates were reasonable and he seemed to have a special affection for Indians, as he had close friends from India. He had a loud and raspy voice, and used a range of hand gestures to complement his intelligent comments. I liked his frankness, and he didn't pretend to know more than he did. If you are ever in Athens, give him a call - 697 7085927.

On my second day-trip, he explained that religious shrines, such as the one in the photograph, were built alongside roadsides, at the site of fatal car accidents. I was intrigued by the connection to the Kerala roadside shrines I wrote about in January. However, the ones in Kerala are probably the result of the cultural exchange between Hinduism and Christianity, and have nothing to do with accidents.

The Secret Life Of Mumbai Tap Water

There's a lot of crap inside Mumbai tap water. If you use an electrolyzer, clouds of sediments suddenly appear out of nowhere, as if by (black) magic. It is rumoured that tap water is not as harmful as people think, because it is heavily chlorinated. This process kills most of the germs in the water. However, these photos aren't very reassuring. But there's something to be said about building your resistance...

In the second photo, the clear water is virgin tap water. The other two glasses have been "electrocuted"; the lighter one contains purified water, and the darker one contains tap water. To make a long story short, it's worth investing in a water purifier.

Red Cars On Hire

On a recent trip to Hyderabad, I noticed a battalion of red cars parked on the roadside. These cars are rented for weddings. One surprisingly frank driver, anxiously waiting for a customer, said that business was down. Even without this information, a close inspection would reveal that the cars weren't in great shape. But that said, they had a nostalgic old-world charm to them. Not a bad idea to spruce up the romance factor in an overly practical world, especially on a wedding day. Note the lovely car on the right (a 1950s Morris?). If I'm not mistaken, the top two car are a 1980s Contessa (manufactured by Hindustan Motors) and a 1970s Chevy.