And the words for Mashhur (famous), Shaan-Shaurat (fame-glory), Defter (office), Sada (plain/simple), Tamam (ok/finish), Mohalle (neighbourhood), Firni (rice pudding), Sharbat (cold beverage), Hafta (week) and Kalam (pen) are the same in hindi and turkish. More importantly my name Shahana has a very similar meaning in Turkish as it does in Hindi (well Urdu). It means something Royal/Grand in Urdu and in Turkish it means Grand or Wonderful. So as one can imagine everytime I introduce myself in Turkey I always get a rather delighted response.

So this is one of the reasons I've had such good luck here with getting to know people and doing my research. Yesterday I went to the Istanbul Municipality Office for Urban Transformations and met a very nice architect there called Ehsen. Not only was she extremely helpful and spent the entire day explaining various projects and translating stuff for me - she EVEN INVITED me in the evening to go fishing!! As you might have read in the previous post, people in Istanbul go fishing (without bait) over the Galata bridge and its a common local hobby.

So since she had an extra rod, she invited me along for a uniquely Istanbullur's evening. And she found a wonderful spot at Karaköy pier where the fish were biting. And I caught some 15-16 little fish using just a rod and NO BAIT!! Amazing!!! Some 3-4 got away and Ehsen caught many more than me she having better technique. But this is the first time I went fishing and I couldn't believe my luck. Maybe thats what it was - beginner's luck heh heh. It’s still great....

We fished from 8pm to about 11.30pm. And the night before I went upto the rooftop restaurant and had a long dinner with the half-moon hanging over the Marmara Sea. In fact Marmara is named for the island of Marmar where they used to mine marble. And the word in hindi for marble is............Marmar. The same....yay..... And the Blue Mosque looked so beautiful I couldn’t resist and took out my sketchbook and started sketching. I thought I'd forgotten how to. Can one forget how to sketch? Not genuinely talented people surely.

I was right. I have forgotten. My efforts were dismal. But the night was beautiful anyway. I love Istanbul...

And today is my last day in Istanbul and I visit the suburb of Avcilar which was very badly affected by the 1999 earthquake. Then in the evening I might have some of the fish we caught that Ehsen will fry hopefully. And at night a free concert at the amphitheatre near Taksim of Mevlana (traditional Sufi) music.

And tomorrow 5am back to London. Sigh.

posted by shahana at 10:57 AM