Thursday, August 30, 2018

TITANIC AND THE STRAUS COUPLE


   
                                              


















                                                                           
                                                                      (Isidor Straus )


ISIDOR   AND  IDA   STRAUS..

We have been going to Straus park quite often  for our  evening walks .Located  at  upper Manhattan  on Broadway (where it crosses  street  No 107)  , This  .0.44 Acre Park has flower beds, shady trees and ornamental plants apart from  benches arranged by Friends of Straus Park Society . This society maintains the Park. As the  underground metro train station lies just below the Park , free WiFi provided by MTA in New York  is readily available for  visitors to this Park. KFC outlet is just across the road. Eden Garden Fruit store( that sells a variety of fresh fruits and juices)  is also close by .

There is an impressive  Bronze Statue of a woman  in reclining posture inside the park   . I asked a  regular local visitor about the details of this sculpture and  he said:
" Do you You know  the Titanic sinking in Atlantic ? She is the Great Lady Ida Straus.  Jewish immigrants. One time Owners of Macy's Store  Chain .The Straus family had their spacious house near this park. The statute was done by well known Sculptor Lukeman and was installed in 1915 A.D. Very old now. I have been coming to this Park since 1970."

And that made me to visit Macy's store on  Harold Square  (34th street  ) again  and  seek more details.

IDA AND ISIDOR STRAUS..

The straus family  moved to America from Baveria ( Germany)  in 1854 and settled in Georgia. After the  American civil war, they shifted permanently to New York.
 Ida Blun Straus   was a daring  lady. Her husband Isidor Straus was the  major co-owner of  Macy's store (  Biggest  store) in New York at that time  They were married in 1871. They were an ideal  couple . Both were involved in many philanthropic  activities and  connected to many Charity organizations. Rarely the husband and wife  spent a day away from each other.

The husband and wife were on a tour of  Europe and were returning to New york in SS  Titanic that sank in Atlantic on 15th April 1912( on its maiden journey ) . The ship hit  an iceberg and more than 1500 passengers and Crew members died in this Disaster.

On the night of the disaster, as the call to board the lifeboats went out, Isidor escorted Ida to Lifeboat and prepared to say goodbye to her. Ida, however, refused to enter the small boat, saying, “We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.” Several other first- class passengers tried to convince Ida to board but she could not be swayed. Instead,  she sent her newly hired maid from England, Ellen Bird, to the  lifeboat.  Initially,  The loyal maid   hesitated to move to the life Boat  . Ida gave her fur coat to Ellen, saying that she won’t need it anymore.

The Strauses were last seen seated side by side on Titanic's deck..

   It was testified ( before a commission of Inquiry )  by a  surviving  passengers and one crew member later that while they were moving ladies out from the sinking ship to safety boats, Ida decided not to move and stayed in the company of her husband on the deck of sinking ship. Ida and her husband sank together sitting on their Chairs on the deck of Titanic.

Isidor’s body was recovered  but the  funereal service  was delayed for a few days in the hopes that Ida’s body might too be recovered, allowing the two who had lived and died together to also share a funeral—but Ida’s body was never found.

This touching memorial is frequented by many visitors  .Sculpture of Ida Straus  (Bronze)  in reclining posturre  has been  done by well known Sculptor  Augustus Lukeman.If you  look at the large wall behind this sculpture ,you can  read an inscription from the Old Testament’s Book of Samuel:    it states :

 “In Memory of Isidor and Ida Straus.  Lovely and Pleasant Were they in their Lives.  And in Their Death They Were Not Divided.    Isidor honored the unwritten and now lost tradition of “women and children first” and Ida,  in a world,  not unlike today,  where commitments were often brief and fragile"
  “Entreat me not to leave you…for where thou goest,  I will go; and where thou lodgest,  I will lodge…and where thou diest, I will die;   and there I will be buried”.

A plaque of husband and wife is prominently displayed at  the inner side of the main entrance to Macy's store  . Macy's has so many wonderful and historical stories connected with it . That is why so many  Tourists and inquisitive  people  visit Macy's store.

(Avtar Mota)


CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

A BLACK AND WHITE KASHMIR VIEW AND POET LYRICIST SHAILENDRA



                                                                           





KASHMIR......


Tumhe yaad karte Karte
jaayegi rein saari...
Tum le gaye ho apne.
Sang neend bhi hamaari.....



(This night will pass on
simply revisiting your memories
again again,
My Love,
you have stolen
Even the sleep from my eyes..)



Had  Hoet lyrisit Shailendra( who wrote these lines for Hindi movie Amrapali) been alive, i would have sought permission from him to replace word rein (night) with umr ( age) in second line and neend (sleep) with rooh ( soul) in the fourth line to express my sentiments for this Black  And White  kashmir frame.

 In that situation , The Translation would have been as under :


(This age  will pass on
simply revisiting your memories
again again,
My Love,
you have stolen
  the soul from what remains now
a  bodily frame )


 


(Avtar Mota)

Creative Commons License 
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

AMERICA , DON'T LOOK AT ME SO LOVINGLY ; I HAVE TO GO BACK TO INDIA ..

                                       
                                        







































































                                                                                 

                                                                             














                                                                               



























                                                                    

                                                         ( The Halal Guys NYC )





                                                                           




                                                                                   

                                                                            
                                                                       ( At Boston )
                                                            ( Outside MET NYC )
                                                 ( Hudson Bank Upper Manhattan )
                                                                              





                                                                          
( Outside Albert Einstein's House on Mercer Street In Princeton on 31.08.2018 )

                              ( St Lawrence River  .. Thousand Islands  )


                                                              ( At Harlem )


                                                           ( Niagara falls )














                                             
























                                                       ( Niagara Old Fort )
                                                           ( Outside MET NYC)
                                            ( MET  Egyptian Temple of Dendur )









e
                                                             ( Washington Near White House  )
                                                               ( Cold Springs Ferry ride )



                                                             ( Top of Empire State Building )






                                                                               























                                            






     

                                                                            ( Wall Street Bull )    

                                                 ( India Day Parade )

America, Don't Look at me so lovingly...I have to go back ...


                                                                 
                                  (Ali Sardar Jafri)

I am adding a mini poem' Tu mujhe Itnay Pyaar se mat Dekh '  by Ali Sardar jafri to these photographs..

(Tu Mujhe Itnay Pyaar se mat Dekh)

" Tu mujhe itnay pyaar say mat dekh,
Teri palkon ke naram saayaye mein
Dhoop bhi chandni si lagti hai
Aur mujhe  kitni door jaanaa hai
Rait hai garm,Paon kay chhaale
Yoon dehakte hain, jaise  angaare
Pyaar ki yeh nazar rehe na rahe
Kaun dasht-e-wafa main jalta hai
Tere dil ko khabar rahe na rahe
Tu mujhe itnay pyaar say mat dekh
-------------------------------------
(Ali Sardar Jafri)

In simple English,i would say:

"Don't look at me so lovingly.

In the gentle shadow of your eye lashes
The rays of this hot sun
feel ike cool   moonlight.
But then In this  Journey ,
I've  to  walk too much,
Cover far off distances,
Hot is this   sand in my Journey 's  path ,
The boils on my feet
 burn like coal.
Who knows,
Whether this  love lingers or not?
May be ,
Ignorant you  remain,
As to who really burns in this
desert of faithfulness?

Don't look at me so lovingly."

(Avtar Mota) 
                                         
PS

Photographs by Avtar Mota ...New York, Mystic Connecticut, Hudson City , Boston , Washington and Cold springs .

Creative Commons LicenseCHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.