Thursday, May 30, 2019
Buenos Aires
First Day of NYU Conference on The Global South
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Buenos Aires
First Day of NYU Conference on The Global South, Tango Lecture and Lessons and Museum of Fine Arts
Buenos Dias from Buenos Aires!
Like any day that involves a conference, there was much to do and I literally hit the sack today at 9.45 pm after finding it impossible to keep my eyes open.
I awoke early at about 6.00 am and had a long WhatsApp conversation on the phone in the bathroom with my cousin Meera (as I did not want to disturb Llew who was still asleep) about an issue in Bombay concerning my Dad who is in the process of making up his mind whether or not to hire new domestic help. I hope that my input (delivered through Meera as Dad does not have a smart phone, was helpful). While Hub did use the bathroom, I blogged and then got myself ready in just 15 minutes.
We were downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant having breakfast with my colleague Tim by 8.30 am: decaf Americanos to begin with followed by bowls of muesli with a lot of vanilla yogurt, milk, nuts and fresh fruit. It is about all I can eat before feeling stuffed! There are also wonderful croissants here, but there is only so much one can eat before going off to face a full day’s conference program.
Llew and I said Bye and parted. Tim told us about an extraordinary book store, supposedly one of the most interesting in the world, called the Athaneum. And since Llew has never met a book shop he has not loved, it was a no-brainer. That was where he was headed. Meanwhile, I joined a long crocodile of colleagues as we made our way to the campus of NYU-Buenos Aires to begin the proceedings of the conference for which we came here.
Long Walk to NYU-Buenos Aires Campus:
It was such great fun catching up with my colleague Ray Ro from NYU-Shanghai en route to campus that I did not keep track at all of which turns we were making along the city’s excellent urban grid. Llew and I had last met Ray in Shanghai, China, where he teaches at NYU. We had spent a lovely morning together over coffee after visiting the Shanghai National Museum. We talked about my Fulbright experience in Bombay and what I have been up to since last we met including my just published book on Goa and my forthcoming memoir.
Arrival at NYU-Buenos Aires:
The walk took about 20 minutes and no one was more surprised than I was when we reached the place. It appears to be a sort of palacio that has been converted into a university campus. The outside is red brick-clad and the inside has a modest-sized medieval Great Hall complete with stained glass windows, a balcony that overlooks the space below, stone carvings and Greco-Roman figures holding up the fire-place mantelpiece. It is lit by a giant brass chandelier. The entire space was thrilling to the medievalist in me and I loved it.
The morning began with coffee—but I did not have any as I would like to sleep well at night! Instead, I found a seat right besides my colleague Heidi, right in front where I listened to the welcome remarks made by Julie and Molly. It was so good to see many of my colleagues all assembled together in one spot after ages and to find so many familiar faces from past conferences of NYU colleagues who have come here from our global sites. Sadly, many of our colleagues are still arriving here in dribs and drabs as they were affected by the national strike, bad weather conditions and other factors that delayed their departures from different parts of the world.
We split up immediately and went off to our little rooms where we assembled with folks who opted for the same topic in which each of us had a personal interest. I decided to learn about Tango which Prof. Edgardo Dieleke of NYU-Buenos Aires described as emerging from the margins. He told us about the culture of the barrios and the brothels where the dance form originated. We had visited one of the conventillos (slum tenements) of San Telmo yesterday and I was able to visualize the setting in which the dance form was created in the 1880s. He took us historically through to the present time, enabling us to listen to some clips of music that developed as part of the form especially the use of the bandeleon (similar to an accordion). He then told us how the position of the women who danced the tango, the misogynistic situation involving gender-relations, the emergence of tango queer (which emphasized gender-freedom), the use of drugs like cocaine and absinthe that became addictive and led to the grip in which female dancers were caught. Finally, we talked about tango as a part of the culture of the city and its spread to other parts of the Latin-American world and the globe. We ended the session by listening to a recording of a song by one of the best-known female singers that spoke of male exploitation and addition to substances that brought a sordid element into the world of the tango. He also emphasized the Afro-Argentinian elements of the tango as many of the rhythms of the music and the moves were derived from black African settlers in the city.
It was a very enlightening lecture-demonstration with video and audio clips that kept us all enthralled.
Lunch and a Panel Discussion:
Lunch followed right there in the same room in which we had assembled in the morning. It involved meatball sheesh kebabs, baganoush, goulash over spaetzel (small noodles), salad, a selection of cheese, bread and small cups of pumpkin soup. Everything was very tasty indeed and we ate well while listening to a panel composed of my colleagues talking about the various methods and approaches they have adopted through the years in making our Liberal Studies syllabus global. Each panelist spoke for about 10 minutes and there was a Q and A session that followed in which they threw more light on the resources they use to enlighten our students who come from varied backgrounds and cultures, bringing a lot of first-hand exposure and experiences with them into the classroom—much of which , I have always believed, can be tapped to make learning interactive and two-sided.
The First Keynote Address:
The first of two keynote addresses was then give by Anna Stahl who is the Director of NYU-Buenos Aires. She is a bi-lingual scholar of Spanish Literature and is writing her first novel in Spanish. Her keynote address focused on the battle of the Global South to break away from the hegemonic North. In this context, she brought in the works of Jorge Luis Borges by referring to the ideology of this Nobel-Prize winning writer. She also emphasized the role played by Argentina in attempting to establish a new world order, in a sense, through its long history of Spanish colonialism and after.
Tango Lessons!
Finally, we reached a point in our program where those of us who had opted to listen to the lecture on Tango could be introduced to Maria, a tango expert, who is also a tango teacher and who was supposed to show us a few moves. About seven of us gathered together in the same room (we did not leave to go anywhere else) where Maria spoke for about half an hour about the discipline, rules and regulations of the milongas (dance halls) where tango is still danced, taught, learned and mastered. There is an unspoken protocol involving male-female relations in a dance form that advocates physical intimacy and eye contact. That was the reason why Tango Queer emerged—as a reaction against the rigidity of rules involving two genders. Maria has a book out (in Spanish) on what tango means today and how it continues to evolve in light of our rapidly changing world and its freedom from restrictions.
The dance lesson that followed was a lot of fun as Maria instructed us on basic aspects of posture, direction of movement, stance with partners, etc. We learned the difference between leading and following and how indications are given through the arms and shoulders of where a leader would like a follower to go. It was a lot of fun as we danced in circles, pirouetted around the room, changed partners every few minutes, learned about how we should hold ourselves, etc. We were about six couples and at the end of the session, we did learn exactly how it is done. We also learned that ‘Valentino’ is the name given to the stylized form of tango with which the entire world is familiar—the one with the red rose in the man’s mouth and the hands held straight ahead as the couple marches forward purposefully.
It was 5.00 pm when we finished and started the long walk back to the hotel. Chris, my colleague and I, kept on a lively chatter as we talked about things that have happened at New York during my absence. We were so engrossed in our conversation that we became separated from the rest of the group that was following behind us and then got lost. We ended up finally figuring it out but I had told Llew to meet me down in the hotel lobby at 5.30 and we did not reach there till 5.45 pm.
Off to the Museo des Belles Artes (Museum of Fine Arts):
Llew and I did not waste much time. I told him that by instinct I was pretty sure I would find the museum and that if we walked quickly, we would have about 90 minutes to see it. We had seen part of it yesterday, of course (the Medieval and Renaissance portions) and I was keen to see the work of Diego Rivera and Freida Kahlo (as I rarely get to see their work). As it tuned out, I was mistaken because their work is in MALBA—the Museum of Latin-American Arts (where we shall go tomorrow).
Instead, we started with the Impressionists and ended up on the top floor with various Modern artists. There were lovely works by Sisley, Pizarro, Monet, Manet, Renoir, etc. and upstairs a few canvasses by Picasso, Leger, Kandinsky and Klee. There was also a special exhibition on the work of Carlos Alonso which featured some really huge canvasses.
But for some odd reason, I was really exhausted today. I think it had to do with the fact that I was not wearing good walking shoes. I ought to have gone up to my room and changed from my Mary Janes into my sneakers—which I shall certainly do tomorrow.
Dinner at Las Delicias:
I was keen to get back to the hotel for a shower and a nice rest and thought it would be best to pick up dinner from a place close by en route. We passed a small neighborhood restaurant called Las Delicias where because it is so cold, I would have loved to have some steaming soup. But I did not find it on the menu and settled for a plate of Spaghetti Carbonara instead. It was absolutely superb but the portion was more than enough for two persons and I had to send half of it back. Llew had a hamburger—which is something I should also try as Argentinian beef is so good. Perhaps tonight we shall go to a proper steak house and eat a good steak.
It was only a ten minute walk then to our hotel where we reached very shortly. I jumped straight into the shower and found it extraordinarily rejuvenating. Llew watched some TV and, as I said, by 9.45, I as ready to drop.
Until tomorrow
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