A very productive day. I met a wonderful architect called Gül who showed me around the quake affected area of Avcilar (pronounced Avjilaar). She also took me for a very productive meeting with Avcilar municipality and then we sat by the seaside for a few hours discussing all the issues of the world and culture and architecture and everything. By our side little boys jumped off the pier and into the sea!! And swam around with the tankers and fishing boats and ferries!!!

So now I'm just back from the Mevlana concert. It was FANTASTIC. The whole amphitheatre was full and folks were singing along. Clearly the sufi tradition of music and song is alive and well in Turkey. The melodies and rhythms reminded me of the music I used to hear in Oman. And yet not. The harmonies had something east-european about it. Obviously Turkey is part of east-europe so I don't know why I was surprised!

Of course I missed all the nuances of the poetry not knowing the language. But the music and atmosphere were enough! Unfortunately I had to leave after 1.5 hours of the concert to catch the last füniküler train from Taksim square to Kabataş - and then the last tram from Kabataş to Sultanahmet. And at 3am a taxi is going to take me to Istanbul Ataturk Airport to catch the flight back to London.

All in all a wonderful end to a wonderful day and a wonderful trip.

Istanbul - I'll be back..........

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.

So I spent today like many Istanbullus. Well I didn’t vote in the morning like everyone else but I did sleep in.

Last night I went to bed at 3am thanks to beer, beer, raki, beer, raki and a rather lethal cocktail, the house specialty here, called The Sultan. The bartender's taken pity on a poor student (me). So I get all my drinks highly subsidized (i.e. free). The view from the rooftop bar is amazing - on one side the Sea of Marmara, on the other the old town of Sultanahmet rising upto the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya on the hill. Fantastic. I usually go up at about 11-12 every night to admire the city over a cup of apple tea. Then of course the bartender takes pity on me. And I stagger back downstairs drunk at 3am. God I love this place......

So anyway after i woke up I went down to Eminönü where the ferries leave from and lots of families come to have some fresh balik (fish)/bread/salata. Then under Galata bridge to watch the anglers patiently waiting to catch some balik using what looks like no bait (!!). Then I walked on to Kabataş to take the füniküler up through the hills to Taxim Square.

And found most of Istanbul there watching a huge TV screen where the election results were coming out in real-time as the votes were counted. Not surprisingly the AK party (aakparty) was way ahead of the others. For those following the news - this party is paradoxically Islamist and supports liberal economics especially joining the EU. One of the key reasons they got so many votes I think. The two other major parties are paradoxically Secular and Conservative. One of them is a quite a bit nationalist (perhaps even a little fascist). And they don’t support joining the EU.

So as I walked down Istiklal Caddesi where everyone was out on the streets shopping and eating and smoking nargileh (hookah) - all one could hear were the radios and tv's declaring election results. Anyway I looked around a bit and found a lovely restaurant which specialises in grilled kebabs. The mezze had some 5 preparations of aubergine. And my mixed grill platter was excellent. Except for the kidneys that I didnt try and what looked like the balls of a ram which I took a bite of (being brave) and hastily discarded. Some Turkish kahvesi (coffee) and then I went looking for dessert.

Now Turkey has great food and the raki is wonderful. But what has been a true revelation here have been the desserts. The mind boggles at the variety. So as my mind was being boggled, I settled down to a heavenly dish of dried fruits, fruit pulp and cream. All the while the election results kept coming in. The leader of one of the smaller parties (DP) that had done very badly tendered his resignation as the results were still coming in. Which is when I discovered the Hindi word for resignation is the same as Turkish - istiffa. And tea is the same in both languages as well - çay (chai). But that’s beside the point.

The point is will the Turkish army accept a democratically elected Islamist government - or will it step in as it has done before to put the secular parties in artificially. Whatever it does, the Turkish public have spoken - when I last checked - the Islamist party AK had about 48% of the total vote and 340 odd seats in parliament. The next leading party had about 20% and about 110 odd seats. A very very clear decision indeed. The Turkish people don't seem to care about religion, headscarves on women etc. etc. etc. The bottom line is the money. And they clearly feel Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is going to help them make some.......

Well the framework didn’t get done (surprise surprise). But it’s just as well. From the little bit of work I've done here its clear the framework would have had to change drastically. Heh heh convenient....

So today I went for a cruise up the Bosphorus right upto the Black Sea. Had a wonderful lunch at a place called Anadolu Gavağı which used to be the last checkpost for tax-paying in both Byzantine and Ottoman times. As I sat serenely eating the freshest fish ever (since Goa anyway) a million tankers ferries liners etc. etc. sailed in from the Marmara Sea.

And the Aya Sofya, Blue Mosque and Topkapı Palace all live upto expectations - and if ever there was a PALACE this is it!!!!!! But yes for me its Istanbul as a whole that’s so lovely. That sort of corny east meets west thing is very, very prominent here - in the clothes the music food architecture you name it. Incidentally I've discovered the south-Indians have soulmates here in the love of yoghurt!!! the Turkish, the Bosnians, the Armenians and huge bunches of folks in this region simply love the stuff. And after ages I had the laban I used to have in Muscat - here it’s called ayran.

So the Turkish people really like Indians. Well single female Indians anyway......... It’s a curious thing. When I have pink lipstick and no sunglasses - everyone recognizes me as Indian. If I have red lipstick they assume I'm Latin American or Arab. With no makeup and no sunglasses - its 50% Indian and 50% Turkish. They probably think I'm one of those Roma-gipsy type Turks. Hahaha I don’t mind.

So I discover the words for Hava, Duniya, Sheher, Hafta, Tamam, Safar, Dukan and Afat are all the same in Turkish and Hindi. (Air, World, City, Week, End, Journey, Shop and Disaster respectively). No need to ask how I found the last one out............NO its not anything I've done, its the topic of my dissertation. I guess my dissertation will probably turn out to be some kind of Afat as well.......

And apart from the kebabs, I've discovered a rice pudding here very similar to phirni though much thicker and caramelized on top. Bliss. Afat for my figure.

In case folks can't make out I'm enjoying myself here and in very good spirits. The sun shines everyday, everyday men proposition me, and everyday there's something new and good to eat. Do i want to come back to London - NO! I wanna live here foreverrrrrr. My love and best regards to all from Istanbul. And thank you JE for that first comment on my blog :)