Water, birth of the Inca Empire

“Be water, my friend”, said Bruce Lee in relation to his vital philosophy. And he was certain since our body is water, nature and wildlife are water, the Earth is water and even the sky provides us with water. Humanity has considered water a sacred element for thousands of years. Seas, oceans, rivers, lakes and waterfalls have been used from ancient times to explain magic and mysteries stories even to justify the origin of humans. 

One example of these ancestral beliefs is Lake Titicaca, a sacred lake located on the border between Peru and Bolivia. It is known as the highest navigable lake in the world and there is a mythical explanation that relates the lake to the origin of the Inca civilization. The God Sun (Inti) and the Goddess Moon (Quilla) were suffering an unrequited love since they could never find each other. Nevertheless, there was a prophecy about their love: one day, the Earth darkened and Quilla joined Int. They made love and two brothers were born, a girl and a boy, in Lake Titicaca. When people arrived at Titicaca, they found a handsome man (known as Manco Cápac) and a very beautiful woman (Mama Ocllo).  Their father, Inti, ordered Manco Cápac to teach the local population to cultivate lands and raise animals and ordered Mama Ocllo to teach women how to spin and weave clothes and do housework. Inti gave them advice to guide the Inca population and a golden rod whose function was to mark a fertile land that would be the end of their pilgrimage.  In that place they were to found the capital of the Inca Empire. Therefore, Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo started their longest trip to the north of the sacred lake, going across the lands of Urus, Collas and Aimaras. When they arrived at Cusco Valley, Manco Cápac dropped the golden rod and it disappeared into the earth. That place was known as Cusco, the center of the world, in honour of the gods. 

This is only one simple example of the worldwide stories about the strong relation between water and life. When we think about our physical reality, we can be conscious of our fragility as humans.

Uinen

When India stirred my mind

Sunday, October 3^rd

My sweet Grandma,

As I promised before leaving Spain, I’m going to write a diary to share with you my experiences on this fascinating trip. Although you are now away from me, this will be a good way to feel you close and show you through words all the landscapes, cities, people, feelings and temples that I’ve decided to discover. You know I miss you so much, but I am sure that I’ll be thinking about you every day that I spend in this beautiful country. 

I guess that you are worried about me but you don’t have to be concerned because I’m feeling relaxed and peaceful. I’d love for you to see me for a while, as you’d be proud of me. I have only spent three days in Delhi, the capital of the country, and I’m sure that this trip will change my point of view about life and religion. It’s incredible all the things that I’m learning here! People, architecture, food, scents, colours, faith, poverty and even hope are mixed in a culture that has impressed me from the first moment I arrived. I’ve visited mosques, Hindu and Sikh temples, traditional markets, beautiful shops selling handmade saris and pashmines. I’ve enjoyed the walks around Qutab Minar, the Red Fort and the alleys in Old Delhi, narrow passageways full of Indians selling their religious ornaments, traditional food, wedding dresses, tobacco, jewelry, saris, spices and all sort of things than you can’t imagine. 

Delhi is a complete mess! It’s a sprawling, filthy, disorganized and chaotic city, with thousands of people walking everywhere and sharing its crowded streets with cows and pollution. You know that India is one of the most populated countries in the world and this city is a good example of that. It is so easy to have an uncontrollable feeling of being crushed and oppressed by it. On the other hand, its special features make it very interesting, lively and enigmatic, and even welcoming and friendly. It’s very different from our country and culture!

Nan, I know what you’re wondering. I eat enough healthy food to have energy to bear the intensity of this land. And of course, I am carrying a lot of medicines so you don’t have to be concerned about my health. I promise you. 

 

Do you want to know something curious? In reality there are few Western tourists in this country because most of its tourism is by Indians. Notice that in Spain in 2012 foreign tourism was totaled around 57,701,000 persons whereas in India only 6,578,000 tourists came from other countries. When I learned this, I understood why I’ve only seen a few foreign tourists visiting the most important places in the city. I’m learning a lot of cultural and demographic characteristics about this interesting and colourful land!

I’m going to pack my bags because I have to leave Delhi in three hours and go by car to the historical region of Rajasthan. I’m eager to enjoy my journey on the road.   

 Tuesday, October 5^th

Oh my beloved Nan,

I’ve been travelling more than eight hours to arrive in Jaipur. In this country, roads are older and more dangerous than ours. Driving along these peculiar roads is similar to playing a road rally videogame as there is an unceasing movement of old cars, broken trucks, motorbikes with four or five people riding on them, bicycles changing lines suddenly, lonely cows or herds of them looking for water and food, and people walking along these roads carrying grains and rice. 

I arrived in Jaipur at dawn, when hundreds of people were in the streets and the first rays of light were illuminating the colour of the beautiful Hawa Mahal, the splendid facade of the Palace of Winds. You can’t imagine how beautiful this city is! The City Palace, the Jantar Mantar (a collection of architectural astronomical instruments), the Amber Fort and the Jal Mahal (a lovely palace located in the middle of a lake) are magnificent buildings that show us the majesty and the power of the ancient Maharajas. 

 

I don’t want to frighten you but I’ve constantly felt a strange sensation. I guess it’s because of being a Western female tourist. When I go for a walk to visit some places in the city, especially traditional markets and some temples, Hindu men look at me with an intimidating expression and try repeatedly to ask me questions about myself, my country and my interest on India. Although I don’t want to answer them, they persist in following me to make contact in spite of my refusal. If this were an isolated behaviour, it wouldn’t be a problem, but it happens daily and sometimes it’s so awkward and stressful that it makes me feel uncomfortable. And on top of that, they are offended if I ignore them! On the other hand, Hindu women are very kind and respectful and they look at me while keeping their distance and smiling delicately. I have so many questions and doubts about the difficulty of being a woman in India, which I’d love to talk to them about! But they are shy and what is more restricting is the fact of their subjugation to their husbands, which makes establishing conversation with them very complicated. Extreme male chauvinism is a sad reality in India and women suffer all kinds of discrimination. They are victims of sexual harassment without the punishment of offenders because of the existence of impunity for such crimes. Indian society is based on patriarchy, male power and domination, so a large number of women have neither the opportunities to get a job nor access to basic education. However, thanks to non-governmental organizations and international pressure, women are increasing their participation in public policy even as employees and entrepreneurs.    

 

Nan, you can see that it is a very complex country. I’m going to sleep right now because tomorrow I have to head off early. One more day in this special paradise, a place full of contrasts that evokes in me contradictory thoughts and feelings.

Thursday, October 7^th

No words, Grandma.

Today I visited the Taj Mahal in Agra and it was one of the most incredible experiences that I’ve ever had! This spectacular white marble mausoleum is amazing and it doesn’t disappoint, as it is more beautiful that I could imagine! It was a dream come true! A clear blue sky was the perfect backdrop to immortalize a magic moment in front of its fountains and the whiteness of its dome and minarets. I wish you had been there! 

However, I have contradictory feelings about the spectacular beauty and majesty of Indian monuments and the poverty and social inequalities of this country. Do you remember when I was a child and you told me that I had to help others? I’ve thought a lot about those words lately. Although the caste system was abolished more than 60 years ago, reality shows us that in practice it isn’t true. Differences among castes nowadays are a fact and their presence is deep-rooted in society. Indians belonging to a certain caste are forced to help people from the same caste but they don’t feel morally obliged to help people of other castes.  And so, the untouchables are the lowest caste in India and barely helped at all. This is why they have so many problems in being included in day-to-day life; e.g., education, work opportunities, politics and more advanced society. 

Besides caste segregation, another half-tolerated but aberrant situation is violence against women, most of it inflicted by relatives and neighbours. Grandma, it’s incredible that in a country like India, which is a world leader in technological innovation, women have to suffer such high level of sexism and sexual assaults. During the last five years, there has been an increase of gender violence, rapes, kidnappings, sexual harassment, tortures and murders due to marital dowry disputes. These are alarming signs of neglectful behaviour against women, especially in Northern India. This situation has opened my eyes. It’s necessary to promote deeper changes in society’s attitudes to help women to be safer. Even so, I guess that Indian society will need decades to abolish the conservative patriarchal system and achieve the same human rights that Western societies have.

I don’t want to depress you with these thoughts but they are inevitable. India cannot fail to stir us. We must spread its reality and share it with global society. We need to help Indian women rise from the hell of indifference. Nan, we are lucky women to live in a developed country that safeguards our rights and where we can enjoy a life of freedom. Love you.

Sunday, October 10^th

Sweet Nan,

I’ve been relishing for some days the magic of Varanasi, one of the most religious and sacred cities in the whole world. It’s amazing how incredible the Ganges River is! I arrived very early, at sunrise, and the Ghats were full of life: hundreds of people making their offerings to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma or to one of the thousand deities that exist in Hinduism. Children were playing with flowers and fishing in the sacred water. Young men and women were washing clothes, sheets and towels while their elders were praying unceasingly next to them. To arrive at the hotel I had to board a boat and sail along the Ganges. You can’t imagine how humid, stifling, sticky and unbearable the weather is!  

Varanasi is truly awesome. This city has stirred my spirituality and my mind since the first moment I entered its narrow streets. On each corner I can feel the faith in gods and the peace that Hindus transmit when they pray. The Ghats are swarming with men, women, children, cows, dogs, goats, buffalos, sadhus and pujaris giving their offerings to Mother Ganga, the mystic river of Hinduism. Nan, you know that I’m not a religious person but the purity of faith and sensitivity that I’ve felt in this city is incredible. From dawn to sunset, people share their offerings with sacred cows. However, cremations have been what have really shocked me. The confrontation of death is very different in India in relation to Christian countries. For Hindus, one human life is only one period of a full and complete existence.   

There are thousands of pieces of wood stacked up in the passageways and on the funeral pyres of the Manikarnika Ghat, where corpses burn during the whole day. I wish you could have seen it! I think that Varanasi is one of the most impressive cities I’ve ever seen because of its intensity, spirituality and the pure faith of these people who don’t have anything to lose. Hope in reincarnation is their leitmotiv.  

 

Grandma, my trip is ending. These days have been very intense and they have stirred my feelings and my thoughts about the differences among races and cultures and the truly human essence. Although at first sight India seems a chaotic, contradictory and disconcerting country, it is really a surprising land, a place full of shades and experiences that invite foreign people to live it in an especial way. I’m going to enjoy as much as I can my last hours in this particular paradise. This marvellous land is a delicious chaos of the senses. Thanks for teaching me another way to live.  

Incredible India.

Uinen

Women, femininity and cultural beauty

What is beauty? Do we really feel emotions when we enjoy beauty or is it only a myth? Beauty is an abstract and complex concept, a way to understand and to live life. Beauty has always been related to aesthetic standards, depending on periods and cultures, but generally people have associated canons of beauty with characteristics like attractiveness, desire, even harmony. It is difficult to reach an agreement about the meaning of beauty and there have usually been two philosophical tendencies: the first affirms that beauty is a subjective concept and depends on individual experiences and ideas; the second tendency argues that the concept is standardized and stable and responds to established principles related to culture, society and religion.

The concept of beauty has changed throughout history and has been mainly determined by the interest in femininity. In Prehistory, women’s beauty was related to fertility; the most important human action was to achieve the growth of nomadic settlements and the survival of the groups. Men chose women with accentuated reproductive organs as they would be better for childbearing, so they chose those with bulky breasts and bottoms and prominent bellies.

Beauty standards in Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, were similar to ours, as women were idealized and represented with big black eyes, slender figures, tanned bodies and brilliant, dyed and perfect hair. They sometimes shaved it off because it was easier to use and change their wigs; they frequently used milk baths, ivory combs and cosmetics. 

In Ancient Greece, women had to have a healthy athletic body, big hips and thighs, small firm breasts and smooth pallid skin, as it was an unequivocal reflection of their passion; they usually used perfumed oils and cosmetics as well. 

In Ancient Rome, women dyed their hair and used make-up to turn their skin pale; however, the canons of beauty changed throughout the Roman Empire, depending on the nations that were conquered. 

In the Middle Ages, beauty was subject to God’s will as a consequence of the importance of Christian morals and beliefs; women ceased to use cosmetics and clothes became maidenly as society was only permitted to represent schematic bodies with every sexual aspect removed. Women’s standards were long blonde hair, a small sharp nose, narrow hips, a shy facial expression, a faintly smile, plumpness as a sign of wealth and health, and pale skin as a symbol of beauty because it indicated women’s purity and their Northern European origin (these were the same characteristics of medieval virgins). 

In the Renaissance, the canons were extremely refined and very similar to the classic aesthetic as they were based on harmony and symmetrical proportions. The best known feminine characteristics in this period were plump bodies, pallid skin, rosy cheeks, long blonde hair, big blue eyes, delicate hands and feet, round hips and small firm breasts; in contrast to the Middle Ages, women wore ornate and sumptuous clothes. 

The Baroque era was characterized by being the period of appearance, pomposity and feminine coquettishness, when women were fatter than in the Renaissance and wore a lot of perfumes, make-up, opulent luxurious hairstyles, wigs, tight-fitting sumptuous clothes, high-heeled shoes and jewels. 

In the 18th Century, Paris was the European capital of fashion and aesthetic, where women wore an abundance of cosmetics, extravagant wigs and red lipsticks. After the French Revolution, importance of simplicity grew among aristocracy and in the 19th Century, as the working class increased, women began to wear their hair in buns as this was more useful than wigs and the ideal of beauty turned to pale skin women with languid bodies. 

In the 20th Century, there were many changes in aesthetic canons, especially influenced by cinema and the pursuit of female freedom. In the 20s, a huge transformation occurred as it was the first time that women cut their hair and showed their ankles; the model of beauty became stylized, more athletic and androgynous, but with dark eyes and an intense look. 

The fashion in the 50s was a very feminine woman with a slim waist, prominent hips and thighs, tanned skin and voluptuous breasts. In the 60s, women’s beauty was represented by slender tanned bodies and mini-skirts; those years were the beginning of the feminist movement and the sexual revolution. 

The 80s was a period of huge aesthetic, social and cultural changes: there was an increasing interest in body worship and, as society began to understand the importance of environmental protection, people became more health-conscious and this was materialized in an opposition to tobacco, alcohol and drugs. 

During the 90s, beauty was excessively distorted and fashion icons were too tall, disproportionate and unnaturally slim, due to an extreme obsession with the body, which led to an increase of anorexia and bulimia in general society. These beauty stereotypes turned into prejudices, fanaticisms and health problems as people tried to attain model sizes by desperate and uncertain slimming methods. Currently, there is a tendency to relax the importance of feminine standards as famous models, singers and actresses show off their natural (even artificial) curves as a token of femininity. 

Beauty has evolved not only by historic periods but in relation to culture and religion. Although beauty criteria have changed throughout centuries, there have always been two common characteristics: the female body has been understood as an object and women have made continuous efforts and sacrifices to fulfill beauty stereotypes of beauty, depending on each period. Differences in the concept of beauty haven’t been based only on historic periods but many currently depend on the preferences of specific nationalities around the world. Some of these differences are: 


ASIA: Usually feminine beauty is represented by small, pale-skinned women as a projection of innocence and delicacy. In Japan, China and India the use of tattoos has always been a symbol of beauty. For ten centuries in China, a sign of aesthetic and erotic beauty were women with body modifications that impeded their normal growth (like bandaged feet) but these inhuman actions were totally forbidden in 1911 as they were cruel, painful and sexist practices that caused serious health problems; however, in that country a woman’s beauty is not based only on Asian physical characteristics, but also on very important virtues like honesty, integrity, kindness and personal charming.  

AFRICA: There are many canons of beauty in Africa. In most African nations, especially in the Masai nation, women are prettier the more close-cropped is they hair; this is actually a sexist belief, that if a man cuts a lock of a woman’s hair, he will be her owner for the rest of her life. In Nigeria, women increase their weight considerably before their marriage because if they are overweight they can move to a higher social class. In some African tribes, saggy breasts, hoop earrings inserted in earlobes and little animal bones sunk in several parts of the body are symbols of beauty.

SOUTH AMERICA: The aesthetic model of these countries is of a long-haired brown-skinned woman, very feminine, robust and with big bottom. 

NORTH AMERICA: The aesthetic patterns of the USA and Canada are those that represent the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon concept of beauty, as these are the origins of most of the emigrants from whom contemporary Americans descend. However, despite their severe aesthetic canons, the USA is one of the countries with the highest obesity index in the world.
 

EUROPE: On this continent, the model of Western and Anglo-Saxon beauty also prevails, although it is more relaxed as society doesn’t demand that women would either as young or as slim as American people. 

Thus, it’s important to understand and accept that there is not only one definition to explain the concept of beauty but it depends on culture and personal preference. All women have their own beauty because all of them are unique and irreplaceable. 

Uinen