A VISIT TO ROME - THE ANCIENT EUROPEAN POWER CENTRE

As a part of the incentive conference organized by our principals M/s. Toshiba Corporation, I could visit Rome for about 4 days during the first week of September 2009. Though we could have flown directly to Rome from Mumbai, due to negotiated rates, the travel was by Swiss Air that took us to Zurich first and then to Rome, thereby adding a minimum of two and half hours of travel time, and by increasing our travel weariness to that extent.

Having read a lot about Rome & Vatican and seen many movies and TV programs on the same, one was very happy and anxious to see Rome which was the seat of art, literature and culture of the entire ancient and medieval Europe. This is not to speak about the territorial control that Rome exerted on almost the entire south west Europe and northern Africa that was touching the Mediterranean Sea during the time.

It was in the end of summer that we landed at the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport of Rome in the morning. We haven’t noticed any Swine flu precautions in the airport. People moved around freely and it was next to impossible to find anyone with a mask on his face. Everyone of us (since all of us were of the male variety – coming from sex starved conservative India) had our eyes fixed on the upper portion of the female anatomy of the travelers as it was found to be abundantly open and bouncing around non-challengingly. It was a treat every one enjoyed albeit the shame that it carried. The westerners dress that way and they have no qualms about it. It is their style, it is their culture! Who are we to question? So we did the best; we simply enjoyed the sight of it.

Rome is a city where everyone in spite of gender, smokes plenty.

As we drove to the city from the Airport, the first thing that hit us was the spread of the city with lots of space around the buildings. Also, the buildings were not that very tall. In the modern part of the city the height must have gone up to 12 floors whereas at an average, the buildings were 4 to 5 floor tall. These buildings have lots of area around it. To an outsider, this gives a sense of peace that was delivered by the space.

Our guide very proudly announced that Rome was the largest city of the ancient world with a living population of more than a million even during the end of B.C. That was very interesting news. An active metropolis two millennium back, Rome would have been such a place that gave earning to the entire European populace to come down and settle there. There had been plenty of stories of the bewitching Mediterranean weather that had attracted a bevy of people to cities and towns located on its shores.

The roads are very good but traffic jams are a usual sight. Unlike India, the jams do not result in things to come to a grinding halt. Even in jams, the traffic moves. The city has very good transport systems. It has buses, trains, trams and taxis plying in it, the taxis are very expensive though. Another observation that hit one as he travels into the city was the size of the cars. Almost ninety percent of cars were the ‘hatch back’ types and not the sedan models. Secondly, small cars are plenty. One saw the two door two seater car called SMART in abundance. Manufactured by Merced Benz, this car, while it is so small, is an extremely modern driving device giving excellent driving comfort. Smart is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART. The cost of the SMART car is about twelve thousand Euros and that comes to above INR eight lakhs. The perennial traffic jams must have driven the Italian car designers to make hatch back and small cars rather than the Sedan models that we see all around the world. Most of the cars are European models with Italy’s own Fiat & Alpha Romeo in good numbers. I could see very less percentage of Japanese cars in Rome. It is commonly said that Romans are the worst among European drivers, but I found them very modest when compared to the Indian drivers. One could also see plenty of two wheelers, particularly scooters. Italy is the birth place of Vespa and Piaggio; two of the world’s oldest two wheeler companies.

We stayed at the Sheraton Roma. Ours hosts Toshiba knew about the unpalatability of Italian food for an Indian and hence through an internal arrangement with the hotel, could get Indian foods served to us with the help of the Maharaja Hotel owned by an enterprising Punjabi in Rome. We had continental breakfast every day and only on the final day, an Italian dinner, which most of us ate very little.

On the first day evening we went for the city tour and saw the famous Colosseum from outside. It is indeed is a huge structure! It is now featured as one of the seven wonders of the word through an Internet pole. Built in eight years and inaugurated in AD 80, The Colosseum was constructed as an amphitheatre to be used for entertainment in those days. In the morning hours the show was that of the beasts whereas in the afternoon, the Gladiators performed in it. It could accommodate between sixty and eighty thousand people in the stands. The shows were free but there were tickets meant for audience that were based on their social status. The shows were very wild and violent with beasts and men killing each other, enjoyed by the audience that included the emperors, aristocrats and the commons. Perhaps it was an aggressively violent society that indulged in killing and arson aplenty. The very thought gave me cold shudders! Adjoining the Colosseum, there were the ruins of the stadium where charioting contests were performed. Though there are only very few remnants left, this stadium could accommodate about two hundred thousand people! By any measure, it must have been truly grand. Around the Colosseum is the old city which actually a walled city. The buildings were neatly constructed and the roads had very good geometry which I found very impressive. Rome was originally built on seven hills and the emperors and the aristocrats stayed in the palatine hills which was located at the centre of other six hills. Another attraction was the still standing ruins of the huge Sauna bathing systems built in ancient times for the people to take bath and indulge in swimming etc. Very imposing construction it is! Drawing water through it could have been the ancient engineering feat!

To Indians, Rome is a costly city. Though we were taken to huge shopping arcades, the purchases were very limited. Leather and Shoes are good attraction for shoppers in Italy.
The second day was fully spent ion conferencing. There were plenty of interactive sessions. It looks like Toshiba India had taken a large target for the coming years and they made us work hard to arrive at strategies that could help them meet the numbers. Good, the more; the merrier. The day ended up in Gala Dinner with Belly dancers and tap dancers entertaining us. Just before our Punjabi crowd among us started getting into their dancing shoes, I went to sleep.


The next two days had been sight seeing only. We went to the Colosseum again to see the inside. I must tell you it is huge imposing structure where everything was thought of (Like how to bringing in the beasts, using lifts to lower them into dungeons to be released just before the show. Like making canopy with the leather shade at the top so that the sun doesn’t disturb the audience sitting on the top. Truly innovative designs of the then times!)

I had interesting conversations with our guide. Though it was Greece that started democracy in ancient Europe, it was in Rome it grew visibly in large size. Soon after the Roman Kingdom that existed between eighth century and sixth century BC, from BC 508 till BC 27, Rome had sustained democracy and it was called Roman Republic. From 27 BC, Rome went on to become an Empire that was started by Julius Caesar and consolidated by Augustus Caesar & Ocatvius Caesar. However there had been instances of the common man becoming Emperor in Rome (It is not like the blood lineage as we see in Mughal dynasty etc). For instance, the builder of the Colosseum, Emperor Vespasius did not come from any aristocracy and he was called, in the then terms, a Novus Homo (new man - the first in his family to serve the Roman government). All through these period (Kingdom, Republic and Empire) Rome was growing and it went on to occupy more than half of Europe, lots of Africa, including some parts of Asia (mainly the Middle East; Syria, Baghdad etc). In the nineteenth century, it was King Victor Emmanuel II who unified the kingdoms of Italy and assumed the title ‘King of Italy’ on 18 February 1861. We could see huge edifices built by these men & kings of the past.

St. Peter who was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ who arrived in Rome in the early part of the First century AD with an intention to spread the teachings of Christ. He stayed in Rome and tried but was not accepted by the then Empire Nero and was crucified upside down by the King’s men in AD 64. In spreading Christianity in Europe, beginning from Rome, another saint; St. Paul assisted St Peter. Later St. Paul was beheaded for indulging in acts unworthy of a Roman Citizen who used to worship Gods such as Venus, Jupiter etc and of course the Emperor. Though not allowed, Christianity was spreading all over the empire but only in in fourth Century AD through a promulgation, the then Roman King; Constantine I allowed religious freedom that helped Christianity grow visibly in the Kingdom. And soon after that, Roman kingdom embraced Christianity.

Wherever St. Peter was buried, a Church was constructed and it became the pilgrim centre for the Christians. Today the City state of Vatican where St. Peter’s church is situated is the head quarters of the Catholic Christians (the largest in number among Christianity) of the world, headed by the Pope. Among Catholics, St. Peter is officially accorded the status as the first Pope. Vatican is a walled city inside Rome. It has a population of about eight thousand and the beauty is that all its citizens are unmarried.

We visited the museum, the Sistine Chapel and the St Peters Basilica in Vatican. The museum was good but it is the Sistine chapel that is the main attraction. The chapel is a personal church of the Pope, where the great artists of the Renaissance period had contributed immensely by painting its walls and ceilings. While all of them were famous and considered the best in their trade, it was Michael Angelo who did the most prominent paintings. Initially he painted the ceiling for about 4 years of which the creation of Adam by the God is considered to be the best. The iconic image of the Hand of God giving life to Adam is now being reproduced in countless imitations across the world. Here his series of nine paintings shows God's Creation of the World, God's Relationship with Mankind, and Mankind's fall from God's Grace.

Three decades later Michael Angelo painted the largest wall of the Sistine chapel. It was the ‘Last Judgment’. The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ surrounded by his saints. It is said that Michael Angelo was not happy to do the job and he was pressurized by the Cardinal to so. Therefore, he painted the last judgment with Jesus, Mary and the saints all naked. Years later the genitalia in the fresco were covered by another artist. Officially Michael Angelo was a sculptor and not a painter. He wasn’t happy to do the painting and was cajoled to do so; however whatever he had created is the master piece of the world. Every day Sistine chapel is visited by an average of fifteen thousand people to see the great painting on the ceiling and the wall. The world will never forget Michael Angelo.

In the year 1995 the painting of Michael Angelo underwent cleaning. Since it was sponsored by a publishing house they had got a ban order from the Pope on photographing the paintings so that they could make good the money spent by selling the reproductions themselves. This is the commercialism of the divinity!

After you come out of the Chapel, you go to see the most famous St Peters Church. It indeed is a huge edifice. It is said the St Peter’s church has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. It is a marvelous building. The construction of the present basilica was started in the year 1506 and was completed on November 1626, after demolishing the original Church that was built in the fourth century. The altar is built over the burial pit of St. Peter. The dome of the basilica is the most dominant feature of the skyline of Rome. As said, it is the largest church and covers an area of 5.7 acres with a capacity to accommodate over 60,000 people. Undoubtedly, St Peters basilica is one of the holiest sites of Christendom of the Catholic tradition. What is interesting to note here also is the fact that Michael Angelo was deeply involved in the architecture of the Basilica!

Once you come outside the basilica, it is the huge St. Peters square before you. Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peters Basilica and it is a huge area that can accommodate more than three hundred thousand people. During special occasions such as Christmas, Easter etc, the place will be filled with devotees from all over the world to pray and get the direct blessings from the Pope.

Standing on the top of the façade of the St. Peters basilica, one would get a complete view of not only the square but also the receding skyline of Rome and it said to be one of the most enchanting sights.

We did a lot of walking around Vatican and Rome during the four days. It has been a gratifying moment to visit one of the most historic cities of the world and see the huge edifices that stood the test of time, that represented the Monarchy, Oligarchy and of course, Autocracy. The disintegration Rome saw the rise of Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire and Arab Islamic Empire. Come to think of it, Rome had been the inspiration of other Empires that came after it. To see such an ancient powerful historic place, people flock to it. So, one of the most important revenue earners of the country is tourism. As we have seen allover the world, whether it is Kerala, India or Saudi Arabia, spirituality combines very well with tourism in making money and Rome is no exception.