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tk's travel bag |
shabir tk 1990 El & Elect |
Dear Pappan, Hope you and family are fine in the Delhi Durbar, howz the weather, must be hot now. Pappaa, this may be the first letter I am sending you after we have finished our college life, you know why, I had been to turkey recently and literally I am unable to resist myself without telling the experience what I had from turkey. Do you remember those days we had gone for south India tour from S5 semester and all India tour from S7. ORMA undo? Unforgettable!!! We had been to Kodaikanal, Delhi, Agra, Ninittal, Bombay etc. You know that I would like to travel a lot, see different places, and I love to take photos. Other than those tours I had been to Hyderabad, Ootty, Mysore, Bangalore, many places within India and pappaa… I have also added Italy, China, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and now Turkey to my TRAVEL BAG among the foreign countries. Generally in Dubai, we don't get much free time during the weekdays, so the weekends and holidays will be devoted for the enjoyment. Of course there are some cetians who got a lot of free time and zealous to have parties all the time who make the former jealous, so our CET alumni in Dubai is very strong and enjoyable and there are a lot of events taking place within our group. Unfortunately I am among the former group and this is why I am very happy when a long holiday comes and plan to take the KEY to TOUR and this time it was to TURKEY. Do you remember one of our senior, Joshi who married Yasmin, hare yaar, one of our campus love marriage, now you got him. He is here in AbuDhabi and we had planned to go Turkey during the last Eid Ul Fitr holidays, but his last minute withdrawal had changed all of our plans. We cannot blame him because it was due to an important duty of his life. However when this loooong holidays announced for the Eid Ul Azha, I didn't have a second thought to book a ticket to Istanbul. |
It was the first day in Istanbul, the first place we have visited was the AYASOPHYA mosque, which is a converted church during the Ottoman Empire. Such a beautiful Architecture and inside the mosque we can easily find some signs of a church. The paintings of the Jesus had changed to an Eagle, painting of CROSS were made to different shape etc. |
Istanbul, previously known as Constantinople has a lovely history which was the centre of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds and also known as the Gateway of Europe. The Ottoman (Uzthman in Arabic) was obviously the Islamic successor of the Eastern Roman (Benzantine)Empire. About 650 years of rule by the Ottoman Empire succeeded by the Republic of Turkey, truly made the country Islamic and now about 98% of Turkish are muslims, though we can find a lot of differences from the Arab muslims. Later the father of modern Turkey was Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, a Turkish army officer and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as the first President. The next was a visit to the mosque of Sultan Ahmet Ist, also known as the BLUE MOSQUE because of it's interior tiles, which was built during the 16th century by an Architect Sedefkar Mehmet Aga. It has got a beautiful garden around it and you can have a lovely view of the AyaSofya as well. There is a story behind this mosque………Turkish were more powerful than Saudi Arabia during the Ottoman reign, still they respected the Arabs at it's most. When the Blue mosque was built, there were only SIX minarets in the Prophet mosque at Madina, so the Ottoman Emperor decided to make the seventh minaret for Kaába and then only built the sixth minaret of the Blue mosque. However the Blue mosque was definitely a wonderful piece for my Fujinon Lens. |
After having a Turkish lunch we had gone to the Graand Bazar where I have noticed the Train and cars/LM vehicles were sharing the road. After that we had gone to the Ottoman palace. |
Inside the palace we can see something great, a museum with a lot of details about the Ottoman families, their dresses (very BIG compared to our dress, may be 3nos shabir can fit into one dress), a section is displaying their ornaments including 84 carat diamond (one of the biggest in the world, definitely a feast to the eyes of the ladies). Another section is with the details of Islamic history including the sword used by the Prophet, khalifa Aboobacker, Uthman, Ali (who married to Prophet's daughter) , dress of Fathma (daughter of prophet) etc and the Ottoman Emperor's portraits. This was definitely a must see section for any muslim. (Unfortunately, we cannot take photos of this section). |
By the way pappaa, did I ever mention about my maternal ancestor's story during our college days, Its really interesting, this is what I remembered when I saw all these Islamic memoirs. Souhfis in Islam were the people sent to spread Islam worldwide and somebody from PERSIA came to India and among them eventually came to Kerala also. |
The story goes like this……I don't know the name correctly, but he Ishtiaq Hussain Sha Valiya Thangal who came to Kerala with a Tiger and situated in a hill, later the same was named as SHEIKH KUNNU (eventually transformed to CHEKKUNNU which is at Areecode in the Malappuram district). Then they had shifted to KONDOTTY and their family is known as KONDOTTY THAKKIAKKAL. After the tippu Sultan conquered some parts of Malabar and established the Farookabaad as their centre (where the Farook college, in the Calicut District), the Tippu sultan engaged the then thangal of thakkia to collect the taxes. All the surrounding lands/paddy fields were leased and every year the taxes were collected and celebrated the same as NERCHA. In memory of the above event the KONDOTTY NERCHA is still celebrated by the people during February. In fact there is a movie in Malayalam named as "GHAZAL" based on their family background. My mother KT. SARA BEEVI (every one call her BHOOVU with respect as she is the elder) is from the same family |
The palace has got a kitchen which has got a lot of pots and porcelain plates etc. One side of the palace is the sea and the entrance side is with big gardens. The AyaSophya and the Blue mosque are also nearby the palace. However it was really worth to see in every aspect and of course the one who loves the history of human shouldn't miss these. |
The first day was over and returned to the Hotel. During the day I had enquired about the place PAMUKKALE which I had targeted to see since I had seen some photos earlier. Since it was about 700 KMs away from Istanbul, I have decided to fly by the domestic Airline of Turkey. Everything arranged within one hour and had a nice sleep. The day began at 5.00 a.m. in the early morning to catch the flight to EPHESIS. It was again a long journey by bus to PAMUKKALE and the guide Mr.Mammat (Mohammed in Arabic) was too good to explain as well as to interact among the tourists within the bus. There were people from USA, Canada, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia and of course the only Indian. Everybody had asked about the ATLANTIS hotel inauguration when they knew that I am from Dubai. I also replied them, I am working for a company Al Futtaim and we only provided the lifts (Hitachi) for that hotel. The Brazilians were a lovely Mom and daughter, may be because of my affection to Maradona, the Brazilians became very close to me (Hope my "Kamalu" will not see this). We have reached the Pamukkale only after noon but the travel was very nice and enjoyed. Pamukkale is also known as the COTTON CASTLE which is the unique natural phenomena in this world, truly a natural wonder. It was real worthy for what I have changed the plans and I had no regrets to sacrifice to miss the BURSA area (Bursa is a mountain with full of snow). |
During the travel we could see many Orange yards and beautiful hills and mountains. Huge agriculture was there and the main fruits made by them are Oranges and Pomagranite (Neer Maathalam). After the lunch we have started our looong walk to the Pamukkale and it started through a Graveyard. This cemetery was built by the Roman Empire because of the availability of a stone with a particular nature. This stone is called MAN EATER because of the contents of Calcium/Carbonate and some other chemicals, the flesh of the human will be absorbed by the stone. So the coffins were built by this stone and since they believed in the second life, we could see the coffins were made also in the shape of a house in order to bury the whole family members. |
Then we have reached to the gateway of the ancient city which has got all the facilities for the guests coming including toilets, bathroom etc in a civilized way. People can enter the city only after getting the permission from the King. After crossing the SATRAM it was amazing and I couldn't believe my eyes to see such a theatre. There must have many gladiators had their fate, there must have many dramas played, the theatre built during the Roman Reign. |
After the theatre we have visited the Heirapolis which is a hot spring and this is also named as Cleopatra swimming pool (the guide was not sure that Cleaopatra had come here). The water was crystal clear and allowed to swim (Dhs.50) in a small secured area. They believe the bath in this spring will cure many healthy problems. |
We left the swimming pool and it was the time to see the PAMUKKALE COTTON CASTLE the NATURAL WONDER. It looks like the snow if you are away but it is really hard stone. This is formed by the hot spring water coming through the particular stones with Calcium Carbonate and the same is deposited on the mountain. All the water was collected in a lake below the mountain. It is one of the best place what I have seen in my life. The water poured in these areas will be with different colour at different times. We spent a lot of time there and I have walked through the mountain. The water was still hot though the climate was very cool, I have enjoyed really the day. After the pamukkale trip we have returned to Ephesis where we had stayed and had a nice sleep. |
The next day morning itself we went to EPHESIS archeological sites which has got a SENATE HOUSE, a LIBRARY and the biggest ROMAN THEATRE etc. |
A common outdoor toilet got my attention and my nostalgic childhood has taken the wings. We ( with cousins) used to go like this during the Onam/Christmas vacation while we all gather at Grandppa's house at Parappanangadi. Early morning, we go to the Thekke Parambu for the outdoor toilet where a lot of discussions will happen while releasing the burden. |
After this Archeological site we had been to ANNA HOUSE (a must see place for Christians) where Mary Anna and Joseph spent during their last part of the life. I didn't have any surprise why they have chosen this place after seeing it. It was that beautiful place. We can even think of a retired life there. One side of it was a Sea and this house is situated in a hill with greenery, a lot of Maple trees and lovely weather too. After visiting the Anna House it was a time for commercial break, went to a Leather show room where we saw a fashion show. They also invited some of our fellow travelers. Then they took us to a ceramic company. |
Finaly it was the time to say ADIEU, but dear pappan, I was really excited and never thought that Turkey will be this beautiful. Still there are a lot of place to see like BURSA, CAPPADOCIA, a GRAND CANYON etc. Papps, there are a lot more pictures but difficult to send you in this letter, I will bring when I come there. Nothing more to pen at the moment, convey regards to Beena n Kidz. Take care Papps……..Bye for now. With Love Shabir |
travelogue |
ninavu 1.3 |