Part 29 - In Virginia

I’m back after a break - coming out of what you could call blues or whatever; 2 months since the last edition - yikes... Some heck of a slump. 

Can you really be altruist?

You know it’s funny - my friend and I were discussing the other day whether it was everyone else who was crazy or whether it was we both who were crazy. The question is whether you can do something for someone without expecting anything in return. And if you’ve noticed, no matter how altruist you try to be, the world will look to find some alternate interpretation of it. On second thoughts, you probably weren’t strictly altruist in your intention because you might have done it with the thought of bringing joy or smile to someone - you still expect something in return - expect to make them happy; but that ain’t bad, right? Or maybe it is... And people around will spin stories by adding spice to it to say that you are doing it expecting to get some favor. But isn't it possible that we did it because we feel happy when we see someone happy?

Looking around, both of us concluded that it is just the two of us who are crazy!

It was nice when a editor called asking to publish one edition of the travelogue. And lately a few people have been asking me about the Travelogue and about the “Wake Up” series. You might have often heard in interviews people respond to a question by saying, “Even if one person were to benefit with this initiative then I will feel satisfied.” So, “Even if one person were to feel good reading the travelogue or Wake Up series, then I will feel happy.” Well, I’m not sure - maybe a million readers would make me happy; that’s not too much to ask, is it? We have a world population of 7 billion... So 1 million of that means just 0.014%!

Reunion with college mate

Alright alright... Enough with all that; let’s get back to our travelogue... I took a long metro ride from the heart of Washington DC to the outskirts to meet a college friend - as the train went past stations, the areas became more and more deserted. If this were the night I would have been a little worried - remember the New Jersey incident; not having a mobile phone is a big problem!

Strangely both of us still looked the same as we did in college; hardly any change - the last we saw each other was in Coimbatore and after so many years we meet in Virginia. It was late in the afternoon and since both of us hadn't had lunch, he drove to an Indian restaurant. Most Indian restaurants, especially on weekends, have a buffet. And since it had been a while since I ate a full Indian meal, I thoroughly enjoyed the lunch. We then went to a Smithsonian National Air and Space museum. There were plenty of real planes inside the museum. The pick of the lot was the sleek black Lockheed SR-71 (also called Blackbird - see pic on left) - it holds the speed record of some 3000 kms/hour! An interesting logo on the tail is that of a skunk (see pic below) - apparently, “Skunk Works” is part of the Lockheed company involved in aircraft design. Interesting history about the term “skunkwork projects” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunkworks_project

There is plenty to see in this museum, just like all the other Smithsonian museums in Washington DC. This was the same museum used in Transformers - remember the one where they go in search of a Decepticon and find one hidden in an aircraft hangar? This was the museum. Unfortunately, the museum was nearing closing time - you can easily spend a few hours here.

I had the option of taking rest but declined the offer. Tempted on seeing the tennis rackets in my friend’s home, we headed to the tennis court. It had been a long time since I struck a tennis ball but it is a sport I liked. In the places I’ve been to in the US, I always find the tennis courts available for use - they are free for the public and well maintained. We warmed up and played a couple of sets which I lost by a game in both. Though we wanted to continue playing, we stopped - the danger when you suddenly play is that you over-exert yourself and damage your body. And I had already done enough damage by playing two sets! Since it is a best of five sets match, the next time i meet him we have to finish our incomplete business.

After a shower and dinner outside, we planned for our Sunday. I had to leave by evening so that I could be in time to catch the night bus to Boston from Washington. That meant we had roughly 6am till 3pm to use and that meant we could visit any one place. We picked the cave for our Sunday trip before heading to bed.

Part 28 - Standing atop the Washington Monument

Ain't it odd the ways of life... Just near my home there was a house of mourning and a little further away was a house of celebration; celebration of life in a wedding ceremony...

The man was in his late 70s; he was healthy and used to take a walk early in the morning when he would buy the newspaper from a roadside stall and come home. Just like any other day he went out a couple of days back. But didn't return. A biker hit him on the crossing, he fell on the divider in the road and an iron rod struck his head. After spending a day or two in coma, he passed away - just like that... hale and healthy and suddenly gone...

Rewinding back to the US travelogue (just 2 editions to go)... 

It was yet another weekend and I had planned to visit a college friend on the weekend in Virginia. Nearing the end of the trip I was a little worried that I might run out of money. So instead of taking the train or flight I opted for the cheapest form of travel - a bus to Washington DC from Boston. I had booked it online. I reached Boston early just to be on the safe side and also because there were only limited buses to Boston. I spent the time reading a medical thriller. The Megabus bus was at around 11pm but it was more than 30 minutes late. Finally when it came I found there were a lot of people using the service. I took a seat in the front beside a middle aged lady. The bus ride was super smooth. I did miss the pleasure of watching a movie - it was something I always looked forward to in bus rides. The seats were just about comfortable - the legroom wasn't great but then for the price being paid it was manageable; no complaints.

During the long journey the bus stopped once where the drivers changed. Even though we started more than 30 minutes late we reached DC on time. We stepped out on a huge parking lot that was taken up by Megabus. I walked towards the Union station to take the metro. The first thing I did was to get a ticket to go up the Washington monument. They had a ticket for 11 and I took it. In the meanwhile I strolled around the museum area. Most of my time was spent in the Arthur M Sackler Art Gallery. Boston had sparked an interest in art and I was specific in searching for art museums.

An interesting exhibit was about the "Mountain of Echoing Halls". Many Buddhist sculptures from the cave temples of Xiangtangshan were present. There were also large screen Mac systems which explained about them. At the time I visited, the art gallery had more staff than visitors! The exhibit setting itself was like that of a cave - calm and serene. They explained about the Maitreya - the Maitreya is the future Buddha who will arrive when mankind has fallen to low depths. 

Four goals of life

There was one section where they had Hindu Gods - the various avatars of Vishnu, Ganesha etc. There was an interesting note about why in temples one might find figures of dancers and musicians. I quote from what was written, "Hindus believe that everyone should aspire to four goals for life on earth: dharma, righteous living; artha, wealth acquired through pursuit of a profession; kama, human love; and moksha, spiritual salvation. Sculptors adorning Hindu temples address not only spiritual salvation but the three other goals as well."

The museum had a MS Surface table (pic on top left) that provided a great user experience to learning - it had a Persian poem and a Chinese painting with Calligraphy explained. I really didn't have too long to spend here because it was time to rush back to the Washington monument; I didn't want to miss that - I had been to Washington 3 times in the past and never got a ticket.

They took us to the top of the obelisk on an elevator. And along the way the tour guide explained a few things about the monument. The monument is a memorial for the first US president - George Washington. It is the world's tallest stone structure, standing 555 feet tall (169 metres). The top of the monument is made of Aluminum, which in those days was a rare metal - they had to use something as a lightning rod but which wouldn't tarnish. There are viewpoints on top which you can see through a window. The pic to the right shows the White House as seen from the top of the monument.

A couple of months after my trip there was a minor earthquake due to which the monument has been closed to the public till the damage is repaired!

Part 27 - Contemporary art (USA)

It’s been a while; a long while. While a friend reviews another piece of my work, I get some time to spend on blogging again. I was just wondering that it's funny how we have a lot of conflicts just because of ego; and in the end we are all dust!

For our next spot we head back to Boston; my friend had left for India and I never like sitting alone on the weekend. Even though we had been to Boston many times I figured that I’ll find something of interest there - surely there is some other museum to see.

Walking on the bridge across Seaport Boulevard towards the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) was great - if you visit Boston, do take a walk here. The ICA building is designed differently - check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Institute_of_Contemporary_Art,_Boston.jpg

I bought the ticket and picked the free audio guided headset. In many museums this is provided free of cost and it is worth using. There were a few parents with kids sitting on the ground floor doing some children activity. The iPod they gave me had one earphone dangling.

Weird exhibits using CDs!

The first room I walked into had a stack of CDs in the center - that’s art! There was one piece of a gramophone cd (the large ones you see in old movies) with a lock on it. I happened to be there at the right time for a guided tour - one of the staff were explaining about the exhibits in the room; CDs are used to listen to sound and there are a lot of other ways to make sound with them - scratching, flipping etc. There was a collage made using broken CDs. Someone had made buttons using them. In the next room there were exhibits made using CD covers - these were covers made by people after they bought the CD; kind of like personalized covers. In Brazil it seems people put their own autographs on them.

In the next room there were some gross videos of how a CD was used - a chicken leg spinning on the CD; cutting an apple using the CD player head on which a knife was fixed etc. Then there were plenty of sketches of other uses of CDs and sketches of alternate playing heads that could be used to read CDs - birds, centipedes and what not. There was a picture of a 100 year old man sticking broken records.

Photography

The next room had some nice photographs - sunrise and sunset, Boston tea party pics, snaps from Obama’s campaign, crowds etc. The sunrise and sunset series was an interesting one - it was a sequence of photos shot during a journey on a ship; looked very pretty and the arrangement was also beautiful. The iPod device was not just useful for visitors - I saw a tour guide also listening to the iPod before she began her tour. Each exhibit was numbered and you would find an audio clip for that corresponding number.

Who are you?

One piece of art (a tilted 4 feet tower leaning on the wall) was based on Emily Dickinson’s poem:

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

There was one room that focussed on consumerism - a stack of bills arranged from floor to the ceiling. One exhibit to show inflation where the first bill and second bill have the same set of items bought in a supermarket except that they were bought in different years. There was one with 4 slabs and parking tickets on top - the audio explained that it was to point out that we pay for space.

The next room had the Pom Pom city on the floor - made fully of strands of fibre with a thick matting at the centre to denote how cities are more populated at the centre. 

Never ending reflection

The most fascinating piece I found was the infinite reflection - 8 beautiful shining metallic objects (they look metallic but they are actually glass) placed inside a glass case. When you looked at the glass case it seemed like there was an endless row of those 8 objects, one behind the other. 

How? In front of the objects is a 1-way mirror; from one side it seems transparent and from the other it seems like a mirror. Behind the objects is another mirror. So you have an image reflected from one mirror and onto the other mirror and it gives the illusion of infinity. 

Similar concept was used in a little building made of something like children’s blocks - look inside and you’ll see an infinite row of glowing bulbs. It looks playful from the outside but when you look down into the structure it can raise a sense of fear - fear of heights because the bottom never seems to be there.

Check it out here: http://blog.icaboston.org/blogicabostonorg-0/bid/93844/Reflections-on-Czech-Modernism

Then there was a lengthy box in which a camera was dissected - every single part arranged in such a way that if you push from both ends of the box, the camera would be formed. There was a dark room in which there were shadows of objects with the question, “What if God only saved the objects?”

If you spend time looking at each piece and listening to the audio (which is pretty informative), you’ll spend hours here. Even though I stayed till the closing time, I had to skim through many of the exhibits.