In this edition, let me describe Athens, the capital. Athens is a modern city with a past that probably stretches further back into time than any other city on earth. Once an ancient Greek city state, Athens is a paradox in itself, an amazing blend of old and new, of modern character and ancient architecture.
Walking down a street in Athens one may find an ultramodern office building and an ancient Greek edifice side by side. The city is littered with some of the finest examples of pre-Roman and Roman architecture in the world.
Athens is one of the finest cities that I have visited in the sense that it has an incredible amount of sights and also a very sound public transport facility, mainly comprising of busses, electric busses (trams), and a very efficient metro system. It was very easy for us to get from point A to point B in a very small period of time and this is a very important quality for a city to possess.
Finally, we come to the sights of Athens. The sights…wow! Athens was like my paradise incarnate, with ancient architecture galore and a fantastic treasure waiting on every street corner. The Parthenon, Hadrian’s arch, the temple of Zeus, the many shrines in Monastraiki, the other monuments lining the road up the Acropolis; along with the more modern attractions like the stadium for the first modern Olympics, the stadium for the recent Athens Olympics, Syntagma square, the markets in Monastraiki and Plaka, Lycabatus hill and many more.
It boggles the mind that there can be so many things to see in one city, so many things to do in one locality. No amount of time seems anywhere close to enough but we only had a week, and a very short week it seemed indeed. Every day was a whirlwind of activity, one day spent at the Parthenon and on the Acropolis; two in Monastraiki; one in Syntagma and the temple of Zeus; one in Hadrian’s arch and in going up Lycabatus hill (the highest point in Athens, offering a breathtaking panorama of the city). Whew! It seems tiring just writing about it but the time seemed to go so fast. 
The ancient Greek architecture is seriously one of the most beautiful things I will ever behold-- Tall, strong, yet delicate pillars; perfectly balanced arches; incredible finesse; lifelike, remarkably accurate sculpture; the amazingly astute engineering…all together a perfect blend of design, precision and style.
Staring at these works of art you wonder how, two thousand years ago, people had managed to build such projects, and whether, even today, we would be able to match their achievements. Their architecture was, is, their legacy, and the fact that I just had to add an ‘if’ is a testament to the engineering prowess of the ancient Greeks. Their architecture is how we define them as a civilization today; their architecture is what makes them one of the most advanced civilizations the world has ever seen. What a heritage the people of Greece are lucky to have! What an amazing legacy to leave behind!
One cannot help but imagine what we, as another civilization, will leave behind when we are gone. What structures of our own creation shall stand while our bones rot and remind our ancestors of our time on earth. Whatever the answer, we can merely hope that it may be half as breathtaking as what I saw in Athens.
I'm glad. I like the women we've become, each one of us. As Indrani put it, "I like where I'm at right now." Anjali, Promita, Indrani, Nila, Anuradha, Minakshi, Gargi, Sucharita, Sunrita, Mousumi, Sayantani: meeting you all after all these years, I like where you're at and I'm happy we met again at a time when we're all comfortable with who we are and what we're becoming.
