Barcelona - Tryst with Spanish Culture

I would know nothing, dream nothing;

Who will teach my non-being

How to be, without striving to be?

                                        Stationary Point, Pablo Neruda

It was a whirlwind tour. We had only four days to grasp Barcelona. At least, I should be able to write about what one must do in Barcelona to understand the history and cultural mooring of the city. Unfortunately, not much to write about restaurants, night-life, not-to-miss-tapas, etc. There is plenty of it available on net and for some strange reasons, it doesn’t appeal much to yours truly.

My first brush with Spanish life was not thru history books. I have no recollection of brutality inflicted by Spanish Inquisition; decimation of a very rich Inca’s civilization by Spanish General, Pizarro; defeat of Spanish Armada; Spanish civil war as a prelude to WWII. In fact, the only Spaniards that I have known and grudgingly admired is Rafael Nadal. He defeated my idol, Roger Federer in fading lights of Wimbledon in 2008 and then reduced him to tears in Australian Open of 2009. Rafa is no ordinary sportsman. This southpaw symbolizes the muscular machismo of Spanish people who have immense belief in their abilities; akin to 168 Conquistadores who massacred 2000 Inca’s soldiers on a single day and captured their king, Atahualpa.

Barcelona is part of Catalonian region and its inhabitants take huge pride in having a different identity. It is not a dialect and in fact Catalonian has a different script. In all conversations in Barcelona, it is difficult to escape the shadow of General Franco and his attempt to erase Catalonian identity.

I try to look for a three-sixty-degree understanding of a new culture or place. I asked few friends for a quick course on Spanish culture. I was advised by well wishers to read Carlos Zafron’s book The Shadow of the Wind and watch Alenjandro Inarritu’s movie Biutiful before embarking on the journey. And in Barcelona, don’t miss Barca playing at Camp Nu and visit to Picasso, Dali museum.

Biutiful is not at all like ZNMD. What Yash Chopra did to Switzerland, ZNMD has done to Spain. It is a part of travel itinerary of all youngsters. ZNMD represents the existential angst of rich urban kids who have never stepped out of JVPD. Compared to ZNMD, there is nothing pretty in Inarritu’s movie but it has all the ingredients of beauty. It has the imprint of life in its full glory. Life of poor dispossessed people marked by all the grime and the dust and a heroic struggle of love (not candy-floss romantic type). There is no winner here. There is no glorious sunrise. There is no long shot swooning over Barcelona. It has intense, brooding look and close-ups of life. It is an out and out Bardem’s movie playing the role of a street hustler, Uxbal.  Hunched shoulders, hands in pockets, weather beaten face – Bardem is intensity personified. It’s a very well shot film. You are held by the scruff of your collar to see the visual poetry of pain. Film will stay with the viewer long after its over. Biutiful shows you the part of the Barcelona that is not on your hop-on-hop-off bus circuit. There is only one scene where silhouette of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia from the window of a hospital offers a ray of hope.

Fortunately, Zafron’s book is not that intense. It’s a mystery story set in the post WWII war ravaged Barcelona where Daniel’ father takes him to the cemetery of forgotten books. Daniel is allowed to pick up one book. That’s where all the action begins. General Franco and his torture gang is very much there. It has a bit of ever raining romance of Barcelona and its streets. Here mystery unravels at a languid pace.

Zafron has an easy, flowing style of writing. This is a book of books. Book is littered with some fine quotable quotes. Sample this: “Books are mirros: you only see in them what you already have inside you.” And this: “I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day.” And there are some true classic one liners: “To try to hate is an art one learns with time.” And my favorite one: “…making money isn’t hard in itself. What is hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting one’s life.”

In popular culture, nothing defines Barcelona today more than FC Barcelona and tapas. We were lucky to watch the Catalan derby between Barca and Espanyol. In my wild fantasy, I was hoping for a re-run of a nine year old Tamudazo moment and I waged 10 euros on Espanyol victory. Within 10 minutes of the game, Messi scored a beautiful goal from the top of the box and I surrendered 10 euros to my friend. It was a wise decision as Barca decimated Espanyol that evening 5-0. Stadium scoreboard showed 91,160 fans in the stadium that evening cheering Barca and it was a sight. What must be the feeling for the players to hear 91,000 fans screaming for you.

117 years old FCB is not just a club but it is a representation of Catalonian culture and identity. General Franco favored Real Madrid and FCB became the symbol of Catalonian identity and democratic struggle. Later Dutch legend, Johan Cruyff coached Barca in Total Football and till date remains hero for the city. On match evening, city gets washed in the home team color, blaugrana – blue and granat (claret). Camp Nou is a huge grey concrete slab. It comes alive when Barca fans fills it with sea of blue, claret, yellow color and add a rhythmic unending chant of Barca.

Barca has global following and it represents new identities that are emerging. In the globalized village that we live in, it is not surprising to see national, regional, cultural identities getting mixed up and new identities emerging. That’s where the genius of Barca lies. Magic of Barca’s football helps people forget their worldly miseries. It allows them to be part of the excellence that defines the combined might of Suarez (Uruguayan), Messi (Argentinian) and Neymar (Brazilian). Three South American superstars leading the forward lineup of a Spanish (okay Catalonian) club in itself is a statement of the way world has travelled so far. May be sports offer, for fleeting moment; chance to see an excellence at work.

Picasso and Dali, both proud Catalonians, belong to the new movement of 20^th century where Renaissance was receding; individualism was in air; scientific temperament was much lauded and Freud was making wave. Freud’s journey in sub-conscious gave it respectability and artists all over the world interpreted it in their own way. Freud’s book, The Interpretation of Dreams had profound influence on the surrealism movement.

Picasso along with Braque gave shape to a new art form that got recognized as Cubism. Here painter didn’t paint the image to represent reality. It was a different style where an object was represented through geometric shapes, all placed cohesively together and portray different sides of the object.

Dali was a true avant-garde artist. He was bombastic in his speech and surely in his artistic work too. He was exhibitionist and liked to shock his audience. Dali could be called an art world Mohammad Ali – a genius in his work and a motor mouth too… Sample this Dali speak – “every morning upon awakening I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dali, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dali.” Dali loved money and unabashedly admitted having a “pure, vertical, mystical, gothic love of cash.” He was prolific and no medium could hold him back. He painted, sculpted, designed jewelry and display windows, and wrote fictions.

The last item on our agenda was Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi, God’s architect. The church is under construction for 130 years and it is estimated that it will finish by 2026. Today the church represents the longest running architecture project on earth. Religion has this great ability to uplift humans from their mundane existence and you can truly aim for heavenly glory. At the same time, it is not easy to escape the history of Spanish Inquisition. Religion (or some tunnel vision interpretation of it) can bring out the beast in humanity.

Gaudi was influenced by nature and tried to bring it to his design. Gaudi said, “Originality is returning to the origin.” In Sagrada Familia, he tried to define straight lines and brought nature to his masterpiece.

So, traveling is fun. Traveling is enriching. Traveling is life changing. I read somewhere…

“With age comes wisdom and with travel comes understanding.” It’s quite true. I promise…