The Fascinating Sculptures of Prague

Every time I visit Prague, I end up visiting the same old places like Old Town Square, the Castle District etc. This time I had just one day to spend and I decided to do it differently. I went about seeking and reading about some of the peculiar and interesting sculptures the city is famous for: 

1. Dancing head statue or Statue of Franz Kafka by David Černý - The 42 mobile tiers of this eleven-metre-tall sculpture align to form the face of the famous Czech writer Franz Kafka. This 39-ton bust by artist David Černý is one of his recent works. 

2. Man hanging out by David Černý - This sculpture, found in Prague’s Old Town, is easily missed if you’re not looking up. It depicts the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud hanging by one hand on the top of a building, seemingly pondering whether to hold on or to let go. It is said that during his life, he suffered from a number of phobias, including the fear of his own death. 

3. Statue of Franz Kafka by Jaroslav Róna - This surrealistic sculpture depicts a mini Kafka riding on the shoulders of a giant, empty suit. The image was inspired by the writer’s short story ‘Description of a Struggle’ (1912), in which the narrator explores a fantasy landscape from the shoulders of “an acquaintance”. 

4. Iron Man by Ladislav Šaloun - This statue has a story. This faceless knight is said to have killed his lover in a fit of rage. The knight was turned to stone as punishment. He can be freed by the love of a pure-hearted woman but only once every 100 years on the anniversary of the murder. The exact date, alas, has been lost to history. 

5. Memorial to victims of communism by Olbram Zoubek - This harrowing series of bronze statues portrays seven broken, decaying men descending a flight of stairs commemorate the victims of Communism in the Czech Republic. 

6. Crawling babies by David Černý - You can spot these larger-than-life babies in two locations around Prague: at the Zizkov Tower and in Kampa Park. These creepy-looking babies are a symbol of the Communist era and how the totalitarian rule stifled their ability to reach adulthood. 

7. Piss statue by David Černý - Just in front of the Kafka Museum is situated a fountain titled Piss. The basin of the fountain is made out of bronze, and it is formed in the shape of the Czech Republic. Two men are standing on opposite ends, and they appear to be peeing onto the country. Visitors can even send an SMS to the fountain, and the men will write the message into the water. 

8. Statue of St John of Nepomuk - This statue is one of the 30 sculptures mounted to the balustrade of the Charles Bridge. The statue represents the court priest of King Wenceslas IV, who supposedly died after being thrown off the bridge in 1383. Legend has it that the king had him killed because St John refused to reveal the secret confessions of the queen. Touching the statue is supposed to bring good luck and ensure that visitors return to Prague soon. 

9. Il Commendatore by Anna Chromý - Outside the Estates Theater, where Mozart conducted the 1787 premiere of his opera Don Giovanni, there is a heavy shroud around an empty space. This figure represents the opera’s character Il Commendatore, who appears as a ghost. 

10. Czech Musicians by Anna Chromý - This is by far my favourite. It has four bronze figures dancing around a fountain. All are blindfolded, and each plays a different instrument. They represent four major rivers of the world: the Ganges, the Amazon, the Danube and the Mississippi. The dancers are so expertly captured that it is hard to not be enchanted by their fluidity and expression – it’s almost as if you can hear their music being played. 

 

And then I include some bonus sculptures which may not be as relevant as the above mentioned, but which I stumbled upon and found very fascinating as well. 

11. This lady stood at the back side of the Church of Our Lady before Týn 

12. This statue I found perched on the corner of a random building 

13. Statue of King Charles IV at the entrance to the Charles Bridge

© Nishtha Khurana, 2019. All rights reserved. The text as well as the pictures are both subject to copyright and are the property of the author. Please do not copy or reproduce without permission.

Re-invention is all about intention!

Just few days back I was in a training where we were discussing about reinventing yourself. The speaker was the CEO of a Russian Bank and he was discussing how thrice over the company had seen political and financial crisis in their country and how every time they had re-invented themselves according to the situation and emerged stronger.

One of the questions he was asked was "What if it is not possible to re-invent yourself?" He smiled and said, "It is always possible if you want to. It's not a question about possibility but about intention. If you have the intention, you will find a way." And then he gave a perfect example of re-invention where very few people would think possible - Cirque du Soliel. The example of Cirque du Soliel really caught me and it has since been spinning in my head.

After all, how much can a circus hope to re-invent itself? What's the scope? And yet they did it... Not a single animal is there any more in any of their shows. But, it's still a beautiful display of skills... And it's grand and bigger then ever before; almost equivalent to a Broadway show. With the ticket prices touching the sky, they barely do a show that's not sold out. Now that is re-invention. It really is a question of intent.

Image source: Google search

Women's Day

Some thoughts on Pulwama

I was in Prague when Pulwama happened. I was in whole day long workshops and was generally cut-off from all contacts except during short coffee breaks between sessions when I would get to check my phone. It was a sudden spurge of WhatsApp messages on our soldiers that actually made me sit up; with my heart beating faster wondering what had happened in India. In the middle of one of the sessions, totally unable to pay any attention, I did a frantic google search on the day's news when I read about the dastardly attack and the 42 brave lives lost. The news felt like someone had punched me in the gut and I couldn't share it with anyone as all my colleagues in the workshops were Europeans, Russians, Americans and South-East Asians. Nobody would understand.

Brave lives lost (Image source: Google image search)

I mentioned it to my team while on dinner table and they just looked somberly at me and asked, "Oh, someone related to you was also involved?" How do I tell them that they were all related to me... Maybe not by blood or even by acquaintance; but by their love and their sacrifice for our country. They did not understand the weight of being obliged by care and security shown by a stranger. Because then they are not strangers anymore. They are related to you. Yeah, they did not understand. All of the people involved were related to me. Their families were related to me.

Another thing that dawned on me was that the citizens of these countries will never understand the pride of devoting one's life to their motherland. None of their countries had a "voluntary army" i.e. being in army was not a profession. Everyone had to mandatorily serve in the army for 1 or 2 years. That was what their army was comprised of. It was comprised of people fulfilling their compulsion. It was not comprised of people driven by passion and "jazba" to serve their motherland. It was not comprised of people who choose army as a way of life because they love their country. These people will never understand.

They discussed about the futility of war. It was a normal dinner table discussion for them. They told me that they were aware how "India and Pakistan were at war". They wondered why people chose war. But then they don't understand that we did not choose this war. And I hope we never choose a war, no matter how much anger we see around in people. I hope we choose to understand that war and terrorism are two different things and war is no solution to the problem of terrorism.

I do stand in solidarity with the soldiers and their families and I participate in the grief. I am also angry like most Indians but I do not support the call for going to war. Let's leave it to the people who know best and who are impacted the most too.

The 90s songs

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Two days ago, I made my second playlist on Amazon music. This one mostly consists of all those 90s English songs that I so used to love during my teenage. I have been listening to them since then and I have mixed thoughts about them.

• Some I wonder now how I could be so stupid to love something as bad as that. Bad and sometimes dumb!! I can’t stand a few of those songs any more. An example could be Britney Spears suddenly sounding hoarse and her voice so harsh now. The songs simply seem to be missing any melody.
• Most songs are still enjoyable though more of bubblegum pop and if I wouldn’t be driving while listening, I probably would even groove a bit to them. All the Backstreet Boys and Westlife they remind me of the sweet moments and how they used to be all pure fun. All of us girls in school were just all into it.
• Some are pure rock and party songs and remind me of our school Christmas Parties. They take me back to how we would tire ourselves out that one day in school dancing to these songs. If it’s “We will rock you”, we will all shout and scream and move to the beat. But dare the DJ play something that wasn’t welcome. Boos and shaking hands telling him that this is not acceptable is all he would get.
• Some songs were our school assembly favourites and are just pretty big on reminding me of those days when we would skip studies and practice all day for the assembly. The fights, the non-stop chatters and the friendships. And then we would all croon “Heal the world”, “We are the world” and “Seasons in the Sun”.
• Last but not least, some are still pure romance and just simply touch my heart even today. How does one even get over Celine Dion’s “Because you loved me”, Bryan Adam’s “Everything I do” and Ronan Keating’s “Words”.

I have been away from English music for years… Even decades. And now I sometimes listen to (actually more like forced to listen to) the songs chosen by my daughter. Some are nice but most don’t stand a chance in front of these melodies.

Simple Joys of Life

Simple things bring joy to our everyday life. A piece of chocolate shared with you by your child is the sweetest. The smell of petrichor in the morning after a rain soaked night is the most uplifting. A combo of a book and a blanket is unbeatable in winters. A cup of coffee and meaningless chatter with your colleague during fifteen minutes stolen from your working hours are the highlight of your day. Finding a Rs. 500 banknote in your jeans pocket which had been completely forgotten since the last time you wore it makes you suddenly feel rich. Making a brief eye contact with someone of the opposite sex, even a stranger, in a way that seems to communicate a subtle curiosity at the other end makes you feel the most attractive person on the earth. Blazing through the yellow light you glance in your rear-view to see all the cars behind you stopping at the red light suddenly makes you feel victorious. Seeing a friend trip and stumble around momentarily before regaining his/her footing, then swiftly attempting to play it off like nothing happened can be the most hilarious sight if the moment is right. Finding a parking lot right in front of the store you want to visit makes you believe that it’s your lucky day. Spreading out on fresh clean bed-sheets makes you feel relaxed all of a sudden. Reminiscing about old times with your closest friends makes you feel like a child all over again. Receiving an unexpected compliment can suddenly make your day a whole lot better. Finishing up something that had kept you busy for days feels like a sense of accomplishment. And then nothing ever beats hearing the right song at the right moment. It simply lifts your spirits immediately.

Simple joys of life… Sometimes we need to take time out and appreciate them too.

And the men we SHOULDN'T love!

In continuation with the list of romantic literary heroes that I shared the day before, I also want to list down a few which feature time and again in the articles about most loved male protagonists in literature but which for some reason are NOT my favourites. But to maintain parity with the previous article, I would stick to the most loved characters written by female authors: 

1. Howard Roark – The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Without any reference to the debate surrounding hypocrisy in Ayn Rand’s writing, Howard Roark from The Fountainhead, her most famous and most loved character, is an amalgamation of contrasts. To call him polarizing is the understatement of the century. Most people credit him with having a boatload of artistic talent, but he could be as much of a sinister dirtbag as he could be an enigmatic charmer. Roark is fiercely independent. He believes in the merit of his revolutionary designs and has the courage to stand for them in the face of an antagonistic society. He is presented as the author's version of an ideal man. Roark is the antithesis of contemporary belief that an individual is molded by social forces. He is not the product of his upbringing, his economic class, his family, his religious training, or his social background. He is a product of the choices he has made. Roark is an example of free will — the theory that an individual has the power, by virtue of the choices he makes, to control the outcome of his own life. A man's thinking and values are not controlled by God or the fates or society or any external factor — but solely by his own choice. Others (like Keating) may choose to submit, but Roark will not. He is his own man. And all this sounds so foolishly attractive when he is portrayed as the perfect man – strong, bold, and confident and someone with a very high sense of integrity. But one cannot deny that Roark is a selfish man. He is true to his values, to his convictions, to his thinking, to his mind, to his self – and only to himself. He is an individualist and someone essentially born into the role of explosives-wielding freethinker. But even if all this is acceptable, there is one big flaw in his character that will never allow me to succumb to his charms. He forcibly enters Dominique’s room and rapes her. Whatever way it was projected in the book, at the end of the day, he is a RAPIST. Period. 

2. Mr. Rochester – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 

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Mr. Rochester in “Jane Eyre” is a stern-featured, heavy-browed, craggy-faced, rude, abrupt, horny man always on the edge of violence who likes to order people around and keeps his wife locked in the attic. In fact, he is a character closest to the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast” and yet he is far worse than the Beast. Unlike Beast, who had a soft heart inside, Mr. Rochester is a typical Byronic hero, moody, arrogant, cynical and jaded, and like all Byronic heros he is attracted by Jane's innocence, her chastity. But he is also clinically mad, a manic depressive, living in an unreal world, understandably perhaps, he cannot deal with the reality of his own situation. It is undeniable that he seduces and seeks to deceive Jane by effectively making Jane his mistress. He is the opposite of Jane. She is easily deceived because she is incredibly naïve and innocent, and alone, she has no one to turn to for advice, Mrs Fairfax herself admits to finding Rochester an enigma and so would offer little help. He is the first of the opposite sex, unmarried (as Jane believes) to look on Jane kindly, to smile, to talk to her as an equal (when in fact Rochester knows full well that he is taking advantage of her position and character, abusing his position as her employee). In fact in today’s terms he is grooming Jane for sexual conquest. Byronic heroes are sexual predators, 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'. Particularly, chaste, married, or otherwise 'unavailable', women are regarded as a challenge, as legitimate targets to be seduced and then left. 

3. Henry DeTamble – The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

In various passages in “The Times Traveler's Wife”, Henry explains that the inevitable cause of his time travels is stress. He has zero tolerance for stress. And, boy, Henry is stressed out by a lot: by watching TV, by loud noises, by blinding lights, by drinking too much, by getting married, by having kids, by conflict… He only relaxes during sex. So the big question here is, are Henry’s disappearing acts actually a male conspiracy to have an excuse to leave marital responsibilities behind and just go out womanizing, drinking, getting high, causing trouble – living the bachelor life. Because that's pretty much what Henry does with his time away from Clare. Also interesting is that right after he meets Clare in the present – unmarried, no children, and no responsibilities – Clare remarks to Henry that he hasn't been traveling much which is kind of suspicious. And then there's the whole "I need more sex to stay in the present" thing. So maybe “The Times” is right. Maybe Henry is just a big flake. A coward who can't handle life and so keeps slipping through its cracks. What an unreliable jerk! 

4. Heathcliff – Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Forget most of the romantic nonsense you have heard about Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights”. Sure he's in love with Catherine, and you can't question his loyalty, but he has a serious mean streak. To put it bluntly: he acts like a sociopath. Traditionally, romance novel heroes appear dangerous, brooding, and cold at first, only later to emerge as fiercely devoted and loving. One hundred years before Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights, the notion that “a reformed rake makes the best husband” was already a cliché of romantic literature, and romance novels center around the same cliché to this day. However, Heathcliff does not reform, and his malevolence proves so great and long-lasting that it cannot be adequately explained even as a desire for revenge against Hindley, Catherine, Edgar, etc. As he himself points out, his abuse of Isabella is purely sadistic, as he amuses himself by seeing how much abuse she can take and still come cringing back for more. Heathcliff can be a real beast, which comes across through his numerous threats, violent acts, and symbolic association with that unruly pack of dogs. A powerful, fierce, and often cruel man, Heathcliff often falls back on violence as a means of expression, both of love and hate. Having been abused by Hindley for most of his childhood, Heathcliff is the classic victim-turned-perpetrator. His rage is tied to the revenge he so passionately seeks, but he also undertakes small "extracurricular" acts of violence, like hanging Isabella Linton's dog. These lines in the book pretty much sum up his attitude: "I have no pity! I have no pity! The more the worms writhe, the more I yearn to crush out their entrails! It is a moral teething; and I grind with greater energy in proportion to the increase of pain."

And to think of it, these disdainful characters were also written by women and despite their serious flaws are also unequivocally loved by women across the world even to this day. If only women knew their own worth better!