Underwhelming Experiences

We often remember overwhelming experiences in our life.

Seeing Niagara Falls, Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, Sistene Chapel, and New York skyscrapers for the first time, for example.

Or, unforgettable moments in history like, 9/11, Covid-19, assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, or John Kennedy.

But what about underwhelming experiences?

-Somethings that did not measure up to your expectations.

I have a list.

Mono Lisa

DaVinci probably had a great public relations agent. Why such a hype for such an ordinary painting?

When I first saw it in the Louvre museum a philosophical question rose in my mind- "Is that all ?"

First, its scale is too small. All masterpieces should be large and commanding attention. People who saw Rembrandt's "Night Watch" in Amsterdam would know what I am talking about.

Also, how to do you take a picture of yourself alongside an exhibit which is such a small thing?

Great artists should think of these things.

Changing of Guards at the Buckingham Palace, London, England

Lot of pomp and circumstance signifying nothing.

My son Anish, who was seven years old when we took him to see London, sat through this long ordeal

and finally asked a poignant question, "What is the point?"

We in the older generation know that the British love to indulge in pointless grandeur.

Goa, India

All the travel brochures rave about Goa.

Foreigners flock into the place.

Beaches are so crowded that you can hardly see the sand.

I found it crowded, dirty and expensive.

Even if you can escape the stray dogs and peddlers, you will succumb to the mosquitoes.

Give me my birthplace, Kerala anytime.

Oxford Street, London.

One of the priciest real estate in the English version of "Monopoly" game.

But what a disappointment when seen in person.

Main street in Rome, Georgia, (city with a population of 36,000 where I used to work) is wider.

The biggest thing going for Oxford Street is the Department store "Selfridges"

(the favorite shopping place of the Queen).

When I studied in London, I used hang around Selfridges just to see whether the Queen will show up.

She never did.

I am sure you may have your own experiences. Nothing is sacred in this personal list.

After all, famous English writer Aldous Huxley criticized even the great Taj Mahal saying,

"Marble, I perceive, covers a multiple of sins".