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Magazine
TIME OUT
Breathless in Madrid
SADHANA RAO
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The city is a stranger to the rituals of awakening, the shutters never seem to come down on revelry.
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Photo: Sadhana Rao
Post office gone grand: The Palacio de Communicaciones.
Commenting on the whimsicality of life, Proust once said, “…you never can be sure, you could be dead by evening.” Madrid and Madrilenians have allowed this sentiment to slide and seep into their consciousness and have evolved a brea
thless pace of living. Madrid is all about buzz, crowds, cafes, bull fights, flamenco. Are the shutters ever downed on revelry? Does the city know the rituals of awakening? Madrid sets the beat to which time hypnotically follows, on scale. It is as if the city has an élan vital, as its in-dwelling spirit and force.
“La Movida”, a fresh lease of life and “pacto de olvido”, to forget the past, are the streams of thought that have dominated Madrid’s consciousness. Blisters and bruises of the past (Civil wars, Franco’s dictatorship) have been forcibly erased from memory. Its current identity is a careful creation of the influences of the 19th and 20th centuries. For all its deliberate European urbanity, Madrid, at its core, is a feisty Spanish city. Tradition and convention here may sound like a “careless whisper”, but in actuality they are terms of endearment.
In her mindscape, Madrid has an icon of fiesta embedded. The city is always on a party and show-time mode (save for a short siesta break in the afternoons).It isn’t uncommon to be held up in a traffic jam at 2 a.m. on any of the arterial roads. Hemingway succinctly once said, “Nobody goes to bed in Madrid until they have killed the night.”
Dining out (enjoying a jug of sangria or nibbling tapas), could well be a national pastime. Not surprising, the local lingua franca has several synonyms for a restaurant (or its equivalent), tasca, taberna, meson, cerveceria. Drinking sangria (a combination of wine and fruit) combines the reflective languor of wine drinking with the boisterousness of beer drinking. A tapas platter with its aroma, taste, texture and combination gives a gastronomical flavour and history of ethnic Spanish cuisine.
In a city composed of a large percentage of immigrants, daily revelry is like a social ritual. Even after the macabre bomb blast, Madrid doused the flames, brushed off the embers, dried her tears and slowly went back to her usual rhythms.
Madrid became a capital by fluke or as they say by “de Chiripa”. As such, it presents itself as an intriguing urban kaleidoscope. Each successive generation stamping its imprimatur to think and build big monuments. Often compared to its beautiful, chic sibling Barcelona, Madrid wears her attitude with panache.
To the guest on a holiday, intent on quick glimpses and pleasure, Madrid has a way of connecting to the synapses of the guest’s thought and wish list. Explorations mostly commence at “Puerto Del Sol” (originally the city’s gate), the city’s central point. Distances across Spain are measured from a plaque here, with a “0” km. mark on it. “Sol” and 17th century Plaza Mayor comprise the busiest district. Collectibles for the traveller’s scrap book would include snaps of Grand Via, Placio Real, the Palacio de Comunicaciones (the humble post office gone grand), the spanking Real Madrid football Club, the stone pavements at Calle de Heurtas where biographies and quotes of writers are etched on stone pathways, the flea markets and a zillion museums. For a quiet time, Madrid’s Park Retiro offers a surrounding that has an intimate connection with nature and quietude.
Urban kaleidoscope
Shaped by its creative enterprise and commerce, Madrid hitched on to the streetcar of fashion. Boutiques on the trendy Salamanca district or for the brand friendly (read permanent viable discount) at La Rosa Village are the “El Dorado” destination spots.
In the unhurried random explorations of Madrid, the riddle of surface level appearances and the depth of the city get unlocked. Europe’s breathless city has her spot marks and unvarnished spaces. A corollary of the mysterious zigzag path of history and growth.
Bull fighting and flamenco reside in human imagination as slices of authentic and truly Spanish experiences.
Madrid’s Plaza de Toros Monumental de Las Ventas is the biggest ring in the bull fighting world. The month of May is the mega season for this sport in Madrid, and despite protests, the show carries on. The game is all about interaction between the matador and the bull. The onus lies on the matador to balance the attention of the crowd on him and the bull. The more the bull stumbles, more the crowds cheer with gusto. “La Lidia” (as bull fighting is known) is a combination of art and sport for its followers. The blood, death of an animal (or injury to the matador), give grim shadows to the scene and show.
Perfect sync
Flamenco and its expression, (so very different from “La Lidia”), has ricocheted from its earlier home in Andalusia to other lands. The true pith of flamenco is rooted in the “cante jondo” or Deep Song. A good singer combines the sensual and sorrowful lament to the scales of the guitar. The voice and the song are supposed to jolt the nerve endings….the percussion in the dance is supported by tapping feet, clapping hands and in some instances castanets. The dancer picks up cues and flourishes from the singer.
A show in Madrid (at Café de Chinitas) may be a convenient window to watch from, but being a part of a flamenco show in the country church or a festival may have more natural raw energy and emotion tugging strings.
The Avenue of Art formed by the triangle of Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen Bornemisza breathes art into the city. The museums deserve a long attention span. The curators have sensitively entwined the umbilical cord to the past with a contemporary chain. If time is of constraint then the works of Picasso (Guernica) and the canvases of Goya and Velázquez should feature on the priority list. The hallways of Art, like most of Madrid, allow you to filter the city through your own sensitivities and lenses.
All Madrid does is offer a smorgasbord of choices.
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