Be optimistic 8th March

Sé optimista 8 de marzo

Fii Optimistă martie

[La Mihai Stănescu]

Mărţişor fericit

Spring has come, and every country has its own way of celebrating. In Romania, like in Bulgaria, on 1st of March they celebrate Mărţişor, "little March". It could be defined as a woman holiday, in the sense that women are the centre of it, because they are given flowers or little talisman tied with red and white laces called also Mărţişor. You must wear Martisoare from 1st of March until 8th March, and it's good luck. Afterwards, you keep all you had been given tied to some tree or plant at home, to bring you happiness for the rest of the year.

Bring you happiness for the rest of the year... don't worry, if you forget about Mărţişor, you'll have another opportunity in Easter, when the pope will light a candle at the church, and will pass the light (lumina) to the parishioners. You must keep that light lit and take it home, where it should extinguish naturally, and your house will be blessed for the rest of the year. And then you can go out and have fun, as that night is a two-folded holiday, having the family and religious sense of Spanish catholic Christmas Eve (dining at home and going to church at midnight, although that is not done so often as in Romania) ,and the pagan and joyful sense of New Year's Eve (a lot of chatter while people wait the candle to be lit up, and groups of friends going out all night).

But let's come back to Mărţişor. I feel lazy, so I leave serious, impartial descriptions for others, in English or Spanish. I just want to describe the atmosphere, the way I felt it.

Last day of work before Mărţişor, being a woman, you get small presents of your male colleagues, either flowers or Mărţişoare... and you wonder again why they don't have days off for important holidays like this; this year 1st of March was Sunday, but had it been Monday, it would have been a working day.

Then, if spring is really approaching and weather is good enough, you might feel like walking around the city 25 February, 28 February, 1st March... You'll find more flower stalls than ever, and many Mărţişoare stalls outside markets or at the stations of the underground.

And then 1st of March comes, and it's like 14th February is supposed to be if you watch TV, but this time for real, specially if it's Sunday like today: people buying cakes and flowers to take to friend's and family who they are going to have lunch or dinner with, couples taking a walk and holding hands, carrying Mărţişoare and flowers, specially bouquets of ghiocel (white, lilac, rose).

But it is like 14th February in one sense... Everyone seeks a gain... The PSD candidate from your Bucharest municipal Sector sends you a postcard, and some shops include a red-white Mărţişor lace on their plastic bags...











But I'll forget the vested uses of the holiday, and will keep memories of the associated feelings, as people do seem to sense the holiday around here. And me too, because springtime did come (sunny 9 degrees today), and we all feel happy and lucky!

Save Cişmigiu!

What's this all about? Palatul Universul (1926-1930), the old headquarters of the Universul Journal at Ion Brezoianu Street, was sold last year to an investor group that is planning to build a complex of three buildings of 8, 10 ans 12 storeys, in a protected area behind Cismigiu Park. I quote and translate from the PRO URBE Salvaţi Cişmigiul Campaig blog, trusting the source: "Friday, at 1pm, Bucharest City Hall General Council is going to discuss the Cişmigiu-Brezoianu Plan, that includes building blocks of 42 meters in a 16-meters proyected area. The plan is supported by mistaken legal agreements and mathematical calculus, and without a previous public hearing. Ministry of Culture has asked the City Hall to stop the project" I won't be able to go to that meeting, although I would like to.

More information on PRO URBE Campaigns at their web. I wonder what happened after all with Parcul cu Platani... I don't know for sure, must check on that place I never heard of, but I suspect it couldn't be saved.

This is not the first Salvati Cişmigiul posters I see around, there's been other interesting ideas on the area, and I'm sure I know very little on this matters. For example, there's an old café in the middle of the pond (the city was taken during winter, when the pond has no wattter ans is used half as a skating rink, and the other half as a walking path). Apparently, that part of the park is private property, and I heard they were planning to build a several-storeys complex there... Fortunately, rumours stopped, so far. I suspect also that there's something happening with the building I live at, as the City Mayor visited it tduring local elections, and the Transport Ministry also came to talk with the neighbours during Parliamentary elections in november. Yeah, with my lovely harmless, and powerless pensioneers. As with Friday's meeting, those days I couldn't make it so iI don't know what the story was about. However, although my building is not historical, not pretty, not a worthy-to-protect one, I'm not very confident of the reason of that politicians approaching so close, so nicely (so populist-like?) a very unespecial block, inhabited by common people.

Some photos of Tipografia Universul... By the way, the building is already 3 storeys higher than the rest of mid-Century buildings that remain standing at Strada Ion Brezoianu... If your start making a little higher buildings decade by decade you don't notice, and suddenly, you have a 10-storey wall surrounding you...

Facut de un artist plastic

Enfrente de Sala Palatului, entre kioskos de frutas y bebidas, casas de cambio y tiendas de ropa o cachivaches, hay una pequeña tienda de unos 20 metros cuadrados con una mesa al fondo donde se pueden comprar diferentes productos decorados con caricaturas o lemas: postales, tazas, bolsas de tela, delantales de cocina... Se trata de la tienda del humorista gráfico Mihai Stănescu, un local de horario flexible ("cerrado de 18 a 10", pone en la puerta, aunque no siempre se cumple... qué gracia tendría ser artista plástico si hubiera que cumplir horarios). Este caricaturista de setenta años pasa allí el día, muy a menudo leyendo el periódico y mirando a las musarañas, y algunas temporadas dibujando en una mesa desordenada cubierta de cuadernos y paquetes de tabaco. Y atiende a los que entran en su tienda con la sonrisa del anfitrión que atiende a las visitas en el salón de su casa, cobrando sus compras de forma descuidada, como quien está realizando un acto de importancia menor dentro de su actividad... que probablemente sea, simplemente, existir.

La verdad es que me había fijado en esta tienda hace ya muchos meses, y suelo comprar cosas de vez en cuando para regalar cuando voy a España; en Rumania he encontrado muy pocos souvenirs o productos típicos nacionales que me parezcan medianamente decentes, al menos en Bucarest (por no decir ninguno), y las tazas de Stănescu tienen su éxito. La tienda, en el fondo, no me parecía tan extraña; lo que me intrigaba era que el dueño fuera un señor al que calculaba al menos 55 años (no aparenta 70) dedicado a leer el periódico, y no un joven diseñador de 30-35 con su portátil echando humo, con su tienda abierta pero al mismo tiempo trabajando en mil cosas para ganarse las lentejas. Es verdad que tampoco parecía cuadrar mucho dónde estaba situada la tienda, pero eso pronto empezó a extrañarme menos, en cuanto me di cuenta de que, simplemente, Bucarest es un caos, y no existe el concepto de "lugar adecuado", y puedes encontrar cualquier cosa en cualquier lugar. Aunque, eso sí, sospecho que el local, donde está situado, debe costar una pasta.

Sea como fuere, hasta hace pocas semanas no se me ocurrió investigar por Internet, a ver si encontraba información sobre el tipo; fue entonces cuando descubrí, para mi sorpresa, que no sólo se trataba de un artista gráfico, sino de un famoso artista gráfico, que era como si Quino, Liniers o Forges tuvieran una tienda abierta al público en la que pasaran el día.

Descríbete en tres frases, te piden a veces cuando eres alguien, o incluso un proyecto de alguien. He encontrado en una web esta presentación de sí mismo de Mihai Stănescu:"I was born in 1939, but I started my studies later on, in Buzau, a town with 100 inhabitants and four taxi cabs. I graduated from Nicolae Grigorescu Plastic Arts Institute in 1966.I have collaborated with publications like Urzica and Playboy, but I'm not a famous person. In return, I know a lot of people as I have been traveling more than I have ever expected. I displayed my works in exhibitions in Romania and abroad and I own over 40 international awards. I published my drawings in important newspapers in France and US, but I gained celebrity mostly because I was prohibited in Romania not because of my drawing skills".

No conozco personalmente a Mihai Stănescu, y no puedo valorar si esta presentación de sí mismo es sincera o adolece de falsa modestia, pero pienso, en todo caso, que estas pocas frases irónicas y a vuelta de todo cuadran, si no con la persona, al menos sí con el personaje.

Un hombre peculiar y una tienda peculiar, con la que Mihai Stănescu redondea, probablemente, una pensión de miseria, pero que, sospecho, es más que una tienda, es un cuarto de estar. Su "drawing room". Porque así te sientes cuando entras.

P.D. Buzău tiene 500.000 habitantes.


Viñeta incluida en el libro "Am intrat în EuRoPa" ("Hemos entrado en EuRoPa")

"Bucarest de día, eclipse de 11 de agosto de 1999"
(La primera vez que entré en la tienda, fue para comprar esta postal para mi colección de postales de ciudades de noche. No me la cobró)