Cairo to Rome

 

From the African deserts, on 28 November 1968 Team KSEB and Amma set foot on the European continent having already crossed two giant continents - Asia and Africa. Rome, the place that straddled two countries - the city State of Vatican, World’s tiniest country and the ancient Italy, steeped in History. On reaching the historic city of Rome Achan sent us a letter of arrival from the Oxford Hotel. To him, the Rome as he imagined from the books which he had read and studied - Shakespeare’s dramas such as Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and Gibbon’s the History of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776) - materialised in front of his eyes. The stories had probably given him an inkling of the life lived in the ancient empire and their culture replete with fine architecture sophisticated sculptures, paintings and colourful frescoes. The secular nature of Achan and his interest in history must have prompted him to agree to break the journey at Rome on their way to Geneva - a gift to his team mate Chandy Sir, a devout Christian. Being an engineer knee deep in irrigation projects, the world renowned Roman aqueducts would have been a not so evident purpose for his visit to the ancient City.

Amma got a chance of a life time to be photographed in front several major ancient marvels in a single day - The Vatican city with the St Peters Basilica, the magnificent wonders of Michel Angelo’s work inside the majestic vaults of the Sistine Chapel and even the dreary Catacombs, the gallery in the subterranean cemetery  - all within the city of Rome. The team had the opportunity to spend almost three days among the Roman Art and artifacts though it was hardly enough to do justice to the incredible Roman creativity.

I remember Achan showing me the newspaper article on Michelangelo Buonaroti’s Pietà - the Pity,(C15th) famous Renaissance sculpture, now located inside St Peter’s Basilica. He was comparing the picture in the newspaper to the one he himself had taken from the same angle. It was to his credit that the image was the exact perspective and equally impressive! (Though the first sculpture was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, who was a representative in Rome, Michel Angelo had made multiple ones on the same theme.)

The team missed one great opportunity of seeing the Saint Pope Paul VI, living in his official residence - Palazzo Apostolico the “model(s) of saintliness for the faithful today” as he was described during his canonization in October14, 2018. How his stunning announcement made on July 25, 1968 to the Catholics around the world about birthcontrol, as“intrinsically wrong”, in the document of “Humanae Vitae”, "Of Human Life," came to have some connection to Achan's career is an interesting fact. A meticulous reader of the English and Malayalam newspapers, Achan was well aware of this stand by the Church. Much later as General Manager in the Hindustan Latex Company which was manufacturing birth control accessories, undoubtedly he had this question to deal with !!!

The visit to the Trevi fountain 2 km from the Vatican city showed the Civil engineers how a 19^th century B.C.E aqueduct brought water from 20 kms away to the baths in the centre of Rome. I remember Achan talking about the name Trevi meaning three, since the fountain the source of water for the whole city, was so conveniently located at the fag end of the aqueduct and at the junction of three roads.

For Amma, the nude sculptures to which she was not exactly a stranger - having seen more than enough in the Shri Padmanabha Swami temple in Trivandrum itself – had still shocked her Indian sensibilities. She many not have noticed the finesse of the sculptures but the poetic feeling of a thing of beauty had certainly impressed her, I am certain. However, while throwing a coin into the waters at the feet of Neptune, the God of Water, mentally superimposing Shri Padmanabhan or Shri Krishna on Neptune, she prayed, for the next leg of their journey over the Alps to Geneva.

Rome & Vatican - St. Peters & the Pieta statue - these were imprinted on my mind forever as I looked in awe. I remember gazing at the paintings and sculptures - several of them - on the slides shown to the audience in an impromptu theatre installed 

by hurriedly pulling the curtains of the living room and all blasted to silence as Achan’s booming voice jovially narrated the stories. Later as the movie Ben - Hur played out in a proper cinema, realistically recreating the magic of the Roman era, the gladiatorial arena and the races all seemed so normal! Exposure to Rome encouraged me to avidly read Homer’s Illiad & Odyssey at a young age though I never really got the opportunity to read the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire, which I always wanted to. This heady mix of cultures opened my mind at an early age to the existence of people of various races and colours and their exploits never surprised me. 

 

It was only many years later that I came to realise the pain and effort artists and sculptures took to create these awe inspiring works.

Amma standing in the middle of St. Peter’s Square and on the steps leading to the Necropolis must have mused on the grandeur of the structures around her. It must have been hard for her to imagine the effort taken over centuries to build the Basilica and the manner in which Michelangelo lying supine on the structure specially built for the purpose to paint the breathtaking scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. To simply crane her neck to look at the Creation of Adam and the Fall of Adam & Eve as she listened to Chandy Sir and Achan talking of Old Testament must have been an effort. To view nude figures in the company of four men must have been embarassing though she never did talk of all that on her return.