Zeus el temperamental

Su paciencia se agotó. Se cansó de lo que él consideraba una burla para Grecia, con promesas falsas de rescate económico.

Así, una estrellada noche de verano tomó un vuelo Atenas – Fráncfort en Aegean Airlines. Su misión era hablar con la mismísima Christine Legard, la del Banco Central Europeo (BCE). Al principio pensó en ir desnudo, no se sabe si para enviar un mensaje a los de Bruselas, o para impresionar a la Legarde, pero luego alguien le hizo notar lo poco prudente de ir en pelotas a Alemania. Puesto que tenía que vestirse, eligió un traje Herr von Eden, a diferencia del Brioni que normalmente usa para los cientos de bautizos a los que asiste como padrino en Grecia durante todo el año.

Lo recibió de Guindos, el vicepresidente del banco (las malas lenguas dicen que la Legarde andaba por Nicosia, buscando cómo endeudar más a Chipre). Ante la presencia de tan ilustre visitante en las oficinas del banco, de Guindos invitó al gran Zeus a almorzar en su despacho. No estando la presidenta del banco, que era con quien le interesaba hablar, Zeus aceptó la invitación, no de muy buena gana. Su ánimo no mejoró durante el almuerzo, pues el vicepresidente del BCE, fanático del Atlético de Madrid, le recordó al dios de dioses sobre las siete victorias históricas de su equipo sobre cuadros griegos, especialmente ante el Olimpiacos, equipo del que Zeus era presidente vitalicio.

Zeus se levantó intempestivamente y dejó las oficinas en el número 20 de la Sonnemannstrasse.

Se dice en Atenas que Zeus anda muy molesto, y no se le quita de la cabeza la idea de mandar una tormenta de nieve a finales del verano sobre Berlín, Hamburgo y Múnich…y hacer descender al Atlético a segunda. 

 

19.09.2023

El físico y la bailarina de ballet

El Dr. David Salek se despidió de sus colegas en el Max Planck para unirse a ALBA, el acelerador de partículas de Cerdanyola del Vallès, en Barcelona. Muchos de sus colegas pensaban que no era una buena decisión, pero sus compatriotas del Instituto Weizmann lo habían convencido de unirse al equipo del Weizmann que estudiaba los mecanismos de acción de la quinolina en ALBA.

La imaginación de Susana Dudaev había estado cautivada desde que era niña por las imágenes del mar Mediterráneo. Cuando una de sus antiguas compañeras de clase de la Academia de Ballet Vagánova le habló de la oportunidad de trabajar en el Ballet de Barcelona, Susana no lo pensó dos veces e hizo las maletas.

Ese día, en el espectáculo Chronos, David Salek no pudo evitar fijarse en la bailarina rubia que se movía por el escenario con la ligereza de un fotón en el sincrotrón. Al final del espectáculo, Yegveny Shirkov, un colega de ALBA, le presentó a Susana.

Los viernes por la tarde, David Salek corría a Barcelona para ver a Susana. En su compañía su mundo se iluminaba, porque aunque seguía pensando que el universo era escurridizo, con ella había aprendido que gracias al arte su universo particular podía tener sentido.

Psychedelic therapy

I wasn't very sure, but she convinced me. So I called the phone number she gave me and scheduled the appointment. The lady on the other end of the line gave me a list of instructions to consider before and after, as long as the shopping list wives give to husbands.

Why did I want to do this? Well, I thought that maybe by delving into my subconscious, I could discover what caused my fear of flying.

After the obligatory smudging ritual, I hastily consumed the mushrooms. From then on, an experience like I had never had before began. I traversed the Milky Way with a snap of my fingers, encountering a few UFOs along the way, both on the journey there and back. Returning to this more rugged reality, I could see myself from the outside, noticing how much my bald spot had progressed over the years.

After this first encounter with altered reality, a voice that identified itself as the therapist guided me through a regression process, fortunately only of this lifetime, in which I progressed to within a hair's breadth of returning to the matrix.

Everything would have ended perfectly, if it weren't for the fact that the regression process triggered other phobias, namely, up until this point, fear of open spaces, fear of enclosed spaces, fear of spiders, and finally, turophobia, which is nothing more than a fear of cheese, and in my particular case, especially the one with lots of holes.

They say that everything that happens to us has a reason. This saying doesn't completely convince me. The fact is, once my irrational fear of flying was cured, but with three new phobias in tow, I'm returning to therapy with Dr. Abravanel next Monday.

Psicoterapia psicodélica

No estaba muy seguro pero ella me convenció. Así que llamé al número de teléfono que me facilitó y agendé la cita. La señorita al otro lado de la línea me dio una lista de indicaciones a tener en cuenta para el antes y el después, tan larga como el papel para la compra que las señoras dan a sus esposos.

¿Que por qué quería hacer esto? Pues pensaba que tal vez, hurgando en mi inconsciente, podía destrabar aquello que me producía el miedo a volar.

Luego del sahumerio preparatorio de rigor, ingerí los hongos atropelladamente. De allí en adelante empezó una experiencia como nunca antes había tenido. Recorrí la Vía Láctea en un chasquido de dedos, pasando unos cuantos ovnis en el camino, tanto a la ida como a la vuelta. Ya de regreso a esta más agreste realidad, me pude ver desde fuera de mí, percatándome de cuánto había avanzado la calvicie en la coronilla en los últimos años.

Después de este primer guiño con la realidad alterada, una voz que se identificó como terapeuta me guió en un proceso de regresión, afortunadamente solo de esta vida, asunto en el que avancé hasta estar a dos palmos de volver a la matriz.

Todo hubiese terminado de perlas, a no ser porque el proceso de regresión activó otras fobias, a saber hasta este momento, miedo a los espacios abiertos, miedo a los espacios cerrados, miedo a las arañas, y finalmente, turofobia, que no es otra cosa que fobia el queso, y en mi caso particular, especialmente al que tiene muchos huequitos.

Dicen por allí que todo lo que nos pasa tiene una razón de ser. Este dicho no me termina de convencer. El caso es que una vez curado mi miedo irracional a volar, pero con tres nuevas fobias a cuestas, el próximo lunes vuelvo a terapia con el Dr. Abravanel.

Ramesh Kumar, the sage of the spicy lentils

Ramesh Kumar's life was comfortable. Things were going well with Sukuna, his wife, as well as with his children at school, and business was not bad, although it was becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses in Calcutta.

The unrest first appeared one day in August, around the Independence Day festivities. A growing feeling of void, of dissatisfaction, began to invade him. He sought solace in reading the holy scriptures, but without success.

As the discomfort became greater with the passing of the days, he began to meditate. Thus, at night, when the others went to sleep, Ramesh would meditate in the living room, sitting on the floor.

One Sunday morning Sukuna found Ramesh in the living room, in a meditative position. He had a lost sight, with his pupils dilated. Dr. Lahiri, the family physician, told Sukuna that Ramesh was going through a trance, similar to those experienced by hermit sages. Sukuna, a very religious woman, then built an altar at her husband's feet.

The neighbors began to arrive at night, with floral offerings, to pray in the presence of the new saint of the neighborhood.

At the end of the year, for the Festival of Lights, and the day of celebration of Lashkimi, the goddess of wealth, Ramesh recovered conciousness. After hugging his wife and children, he ate a whole pot of lentil soup, which Sukuna made for him.

Translated from Spanish by S. Palomeque

Eva and I

 I couldn't stand the boredom anymore. I was about to run away, just like that fellow at the New Zealand National Aquarium did. But then she arrived; the very incarnation of Diana the Huntress, the Goddess of the Woods: athletic, tanned skin, and hair the color of sunshine.

Eva was doing her doctorate in Marine Biology, with a research on the intelligence of cephalopods. When we met, the interaction with was almost non-existent, limiting herself to swimming around me in the pond, observing me carefully all the time. Then we started comunicating each other through sign language, and after that playing chess, which I had already learned by watching my caregiver play it.

The tango thing was love at first sight, or at first hearing, properly speaking. So, that day when Eva got into the pond while music by Piazzola was playing, I could not contain myself, and leaving all manners, I approached her, placed two of my arms on her shoulders, another two on her hips, and I started to dance.

People say that octopuses have no rhythm. I disagree. And well, now Eva and I also dance chachachá.

Translated from Spanish by S. Palomeque

The physicist, the ballet dancer and the particles accelerator

Dr. David Salek said goodbye to his colleagues at the Max Planck's, to join ALBA, the particles accelerator at Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona. Many of his colleagues thought this was not a smart move, but his compatriots from the Weizman Institute had convinced him to join the Weizman's team studying the mechanisms of action of quinoline at ALBA.

Susana Dudaev's imagination had been captivated since she was a child by images of the Mediterranean Sea. When one of her former classmates from the Vagánova Ballet Academy told her about the opportunity to work at the Barcelona Ballet, Susana did not think twice and packed her bags.

That day, at the Chronos show, David Salek couldn't help but notice the blonde dancer who moved across the stage as lightly as a photon in the synchrotron. At the end of the show, Yegveny Shirkov, a colleague from ALBA, introduced him to Susana.

On Friday afternoons, David Salek would rush to Barcelona to see Susana. In her company his world lit up, because even though he still thought the universe was elusive, with her he had learned that thanks to art his particular universe could make sense.

08/04/2023