Meet the Greeks

Dear M,

I just returned from a short visit to Athens and in between the official work found myself amidst some glorious history and meeting the people who make Greece come alive. While in our land we are trying to seek new answers to the origin of species, I remembered a dialogue from a movie we saw sometime ago, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the Greek father of the bride tells the groom’s American father that, “when my people were writing philosophy, your people were swinging from the trees.” I shall not delve deeper into such highly scientific research papers on the origin but discover the city through the eyes of its people DOA…dead or alive.

The Landing

As my plane landed at Athens, I was greeted by an old man who introduced himself as Eleftherios Venezelos. Since the school days of confusing Pythagoras, Greek names have not had much fascination for me. Kalimera he said and welcomed me. I hope you enjoy the hospitality of my land. By now my phone had got the international roaming operational and I searched for this unusual and unknown benefactor. Google told me that Eleftherios was an eminent Greek statesman and leader who not only played a part in the country’s liberation but was the Prime Minister on a couple of occasions. He is often referred to as the ‘maker of modern Greece.’ The old man saw me off in a taxi and as the car sped onto the highway, I saw boldly written on the building, Eleftherios Venezelos International Airport.

The Name

My next meeting was with Athena. She told me that the city was founded by King Theseus in 3000 BC. The city was, however, named after her as its protector Goddess Athena. According to Greek mythology, there was a competition between Athena and Poseidon. While Poseidon gave a spring with sea water, Athena offered an olive tree and the people chose her, the goddess of wisdom, handicraft and war, as their protector. She is said to have been born from the head of her father Zeus. Her temples were located atop the fortified Acropolis at the centre of the city. She took me to see the old Temple of Athena as well as the Parthenon which was built in the later part of the 5^th century BC to celebrate the Hellenic victory of the Persians. She lamented that there is not much of the Temple left as it was converted into a Christian Church dedicated to Virgin Mary and later in 15^th century AD when the Ottoman Turks ruled Greece, it become a mosque. In the 19^th century, thanks to Lord Elgin, most of the marble of the temple was shipped across to London and sold. However, she feels happy now as the Greeks have preserved a good amount of original figures and objects in the Acropolis Museum.

Acropolis

Temple of Athena

Parthenon

The nation Greece has a population of 11 million of which over 5 million live in just one city…no prizes for guessing the right answer. We, the people of India, are just 1250 million population…surely our race couldn’t have come outta chimps and monkeys…we can do it without them!

The Father & The Spirit

Having met Athena, I was keen to meet her father. He lived quite close to her but in the foothills in a garden where the Greeks had constructed a huge Temple in his honour. I was very afraid to meet him for after all he keeps a lightning bolt in his hands and hurls it at those who oppose him and liars...Since I told him about my meeting with Athena, he was pretty much sober to me but as he took me around his Temple, I could see all Gods and mortals bowing at his presence. He was after all the father of all the Gods and people. He was the presiding deity of the universe, ruler of the skies and earth and the god of all natural phenomena on the sky.

Temple of Zeus

The Spirit of Louis

Greece is not just about Zeus and Athena. It has champions of its own and I happened to meet Spyridon Louis at the Panathenaic Stadium. He still remembers the day fondly as he crossed the line in the Summer Games of 1896. To the Greeks this victory meant a lot as this race from the city of Marathon to Athens was inspired by the legend of Pheidippides. With many runners falling off during the race, Spyridon was cheered hugely by the crowds in the streets and in the historic stadium. At night, eating at a typical Greek restaurant, met another Greek legend, Nikolaos  Kaklamanakis. That is truly the closest I’ve been to an Olympic and World Champion. 

Nikolaos came from humble upbringing but was naturally endowed for wind surfing. Greece with its huge coastline has almost at all times a breeze that borders between gentle to gusty and is a good place for wind surfing. Nikolaos, however, remembers his Olympic Gold at the Atlanta Games of 1994 when he was faced with competition from the host nation. The Americans had a huge advantage over Nikolaos as they had extremely accurate knowledge of the wind direction and speed forecast which could prove critical in a wind surfing race. Nikolaos, however, said that years of training and being in waters for hours together had trained his ears and body to understand and feel the slight changes in wind directions and temperatures before anyone and, undeterred by his disadvantages, he went on to win the gold. In 2004 Athens Games he won the Silver Medal but more importantly he was given the honour of running the last lap with the Olympic torch and run up the steps to light the Olympic Flame.

Poster of First Modern Olympic Games 1896

With Nikolaos, the World & Olympic Champion

Hum Honge Kamayaab Ek Din

Lord God of the Seas

My next meeting was with the God of the Seas and protector of seafarers, Poseidon. He too lamented that his Temple at Sounion lay in utter ruins. Poseidon was a major god of several Greek cities and was second only to Athena in importance. When happy, Poseidon would create new islands and offer calm seas. No wonder Greece has 220 uninhabited islands and over 5000 uninhabited ones, all thanks to Poseidon. When he was offended he struck the ground with his trident and caused earthquakes and shipwrecks. But the view from the Temple of Poseidon against the Aegean Sea was, undoubtedly, the most magnificent.

Temple of Poseidon

Aegean Sea is So Big & Beautiful

 The Arch

Hadrian's Arch

Next, I caught up with Hadrian, the Roman Emperor who fell in love with the city of Athens and made it his own. He showed me the Arch he had erected and the only thing that remains standing till date. I asked him the meaning of the two inscriptions on the two sides of the Arch which read:

·         ΑΙΔ' ΕΙΣΙΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ Η ΠΡΙΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ (This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus).

·     ΑΙΔ' ΕΙΣ' ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΟΥΧΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ ΠΟΛΙΣ (This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus).

Emperor Hadrian smiled and explained, that the first inscription on the northwest side pays tribute to Thesus who is said to be the founder of the ancient city and the one on the southwest is what I built as new Athens and not the one built by Theseus.

The Square

Greek Protestors for Macedonia

Greek Soldier Guarding the Parliament 

 My final meeting was with King Alexander, the Great. I met him at the Syntegma Square or the plot overlooking the Greek Parliament. He seemed a worried man as he was being pulled at different directions by the people of the land. After the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, a Republic of Macedonia was created. The Greeks still refuse to call the country Macedonia as they believe I was a Greek and my land, an integral part of Greece. When I met Alexander, it was a crowded street with a hundred thousand Greeks with flags in their hands and shouts of Hellas and Macedonia were reverberating even after I went into my hotel room as the traditional Greek soldier stood guard over the Parliament.

George the Kind Heart

On my last day of the visit we planned to pick up some gifts for people back home and boarded a taxi to go to MacArthur Glen, a nice shopping place on the outskirts of the city. It was long drive from King George, the hotel where we were put up and our handsome driver, too, was named George with whom we befriended on this short trip. On reaching we bid good bye and suddenly my colleague Atul realised that he had left his mobile phone in the cab. Mobile today is any man’s lifeline. You cannot think of a micro-second without looking, messaging and fiddling with this object. Atul was saddened but made a call to the hotel staff and told them about the incident and the driver. Soon we got a call back, they had contacted the driver and the phone would be duly returned back by the evening. When we returned, we were told by the front desk lady that the phone had been placed in Atul’s room. No wonder this country is so tourist friendly with 35% of the country’s GDP coming from tourism. Thanks George. Thanks Greece.

Last Word

Dear Daughter, I am today not worried about the ascent of man whether it was a monkey or a donkey from where it all began but more concerned about the descent of man. We are today becoming worse than monkeys and turning this world into the Planet of Apes.

SS