My Top 10 Things to See and Do while in Istanbul

A friend who is visiting Istanbul asked me to send him a list of must-see and must-do while in Istanbul. Thought I'd share it here as well.

My Top 10 Things to See and Do while in Istanbul

1. Suleiman mosque/Blue Mosque
2. Aya Sophia
3. Topkapi Palace
4. Just wandering the Sultanahmet area – the Hippodrome and the Obelisk are nearby.
5. Visit Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, even if you are not interested in shopping.
6. The Orient Express Railway station (esp.for rail and novel buffs). There is a museum inside.
7. Be sure to walk across the Galata Bridge, watching the fishermen and looking back the mosque-filled skyline of the grand city.
8. Take a boat up the Bosphorous all the way to the Black sea. Keep a watch out for dolphins. (Climb up to the fort there to see the cargo ships plying). Or, take one of the dinner cruises on the Bosphorous.
9. Walk up and down Istikklal street – up to Taksim square. Sample some of the Turkish sweets and the local food there. There are also a couple of vegetarian restaurants in the area.
10. Go to a Turkish Bath

There is much, much more of course. There are some really good art galleries in the Beyoglu area that one can browse. You can catch live gypsy music performances in the Istiklal/Taksim area and also watch a dervish show that are performed just for the tourists.

Did I forget anything important that is there in your list?

A Married Man in Thiruvannamalai

I heard this story from the district collector of Thiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu whom we met on a visit to the town. The collector is the highest administrative post in a district. Anyone visiting Thiruvannamalai is sure to hear stories about the powers of lord Arunachala, and about the imposing hill there that dominates the town and is attributed mystical powers, and about the foreign devotees who throng to the place. I am narrating the following as I heard it from the district collector, without embellishment.

After living in the district for nearly a year, and hearing so much about Arunachala hill, the collector decided that he'd walk up the hill himself. One day, he hired a local young man to be his guide and porter and they walked up, with the young man carrying the collector's bag.

They reached the top, looked around and started descending. The collector was happy that he'd done the hike. He was also very impressed with the polite young man. The collector was paying him Rs 50 for his services, but he wanted to do more for this helpful porter.

The district collector had the discretion to offer low level janitorial jobs as sweepers to women in need. Hoping that he could help out this man, the collector asked, "Are you married?"
"Yes sir, I am."
"Would your wife like a job?"
"She has a job, sir."
The collector was curious.
"What does your wife do?"
"Sir, she is a doctor. She is an M.D. in America."

The collector was taken aback at this. How could this young local porter have a wife in the US? So, while they continued walking down the hill he asked for the full story. Here's what the local porter told the collector:

In the same Arunachala hill that they had ascended, there lived an ascetic, a swamiji. He didn’t speak much and tried to avoid people. But lots of devotees believed that he had spiritual powers and sought him out, including numerous foreign devotees. The ascetic didn’t care for any followers and would in fact hurl stones hoping to deter them. But the more he shunned his followers, the more followers he had. However, the ascetic liked this porter.

One day, there was a white lady who was following the ascetic.
"Swamiji, whatever you tell me to do, I will," the lady told the ascetic.
The ascetic decided to test her. "You have to marry whomever I tell you to," he told her. She agreed without hesitation.
Then the ascetic turned to the young porter who happened to be around. "Hey boy, how would you like to marry this lady?" he asked.
The porter looked at the while woman and said he would be happy to.
And so the ascetic instructed the white lady to marry the porter. She agreed and went ahead and married him.

It turned out that she was an M.D in the USA, and a staunch follower of lord Arunachala of Thiruvannamalai. The porter and the lady had a child, whom she was bringing up in the US.

Every year, for 3-4 months, she came to Thiruvannamalai and stayed with her husband, the porter. The rest of the time, she practiced medicine in America and brought up their child.

When the wife was in the US, the young man earned his living by working as a porter and guide for those who wanted to go up Arunachala hill. That's how the collector had met him.

This is India #1

One fun aspect of being in India is that you never know what you will find yourself discussing where.

We were visiting a couple in their 80's in a very small town called Mhow in interior central India. The talk came around to the kind of work I'd done in the past. While talking about airlines, I said that pilots are well compensated. The elderly gentleman, who'd been mostly quiet suddenly came alive. Turns out that he had been a commercial pilot, and my remark had rankled.

He started to make a case for pilots and suddenly I was on the defensive. I braced myself and heard the many familiar arguments I'd heard before. I was surprised to find myself in a small agricultural town in Madhya Pradesh, discussing crew deadheading, good and bad pairings and the assorted pilot quality of life issues.

After I managed to extricate myself reasonably, I mentioned to him that in India, I could never anticipate what I'd be discussing with whom. "Let me tell you something about India," said the ex-pilot who had warmed up by then. He went ahead and narrated the following story. It is almost surely an apocryphal tale, but it still has a lot of truth in it which is why I am sharing it here.

The ex-pilot told us about a German lady who was returning home after living in India for many years. On her last day she was asked, "Madam, after all these years, what have you learned about India?"
"I can tell you 4 things about India," she apparently said.
"Every stone is sacred." (More shrines and temples per square mile than anywhere else.)
"Everyone is a doctor." (People will always suggest home remedies no matter what the ailment.)
"Any time is tea time." (Numerous cups a day is not at all unusual.)
"And every place is the toilet." (You can see men going everywhere.)

An Ashram Stay at Rishikesh

For many many years now, I've wanted to experience staying at an ashram. It sounded like a great way to escape from the daily drudgery and to get some time to think. Maybe the desire started when I read that the Beatles had stayed in an ashram back in the 60's.

In Rishikesh, we had our chance. Rishikesh is less than 25 kms from Haridwar, which is only a few hours out of Delhi. After the bustle, the noise and the frenzy of Haridwar, Rishikesh is a refreshing change. Lots of people have noticed this, for I later learned that Rishikesh has become an extremely popular retirement community.

There are lots of ashrams catering to curious visitors like us, but they weren’t easy to find initially. And everyone we asked was directing us to regular hotels. The guidebook referred to an area 3 kms up the river and across the Ganges called the "Swarag Ashram" area and that was the place we should have come to right away. (The Beatles stayed in Mahesh Yogi's ashram, but we are not sure if it is still around.)

With our backpacks, we took a ferry ride across the river. In the place we wished to stay – Paramarth Niketan, there was one small problem. The receptionist wouldn't let us see the room before we paid. In India, we have been to too many places where the reception lobby is beautifully done, but the rooms are quite bad. In Parmarth, we were worried about the cleanliness, but the receptionist assured us that it would be fine.

It was past 2pm and we really wanted to experience an ashram stay, and so we decided to take the chance. If the room turned out to be really bad, we'd walk away and treat it as a donation to the ashram.

Once we paid up, we were taken to a separate area meant for foreigners and NRI's (Indians living abroad). The room was simply decorated but very clean, with hot water and there was an air cooler instead of an A/C. It was definitely adequate.

We would be given 3 meals a day, could participate in all the ashram activities as we chose to. For those who were interested, there was Yoga, evening meditation, early morning prayer and another meditation assembly. We were also free to wander in and out of the ashram to take in Rishikesh's sights.

Daily, at 5pm there was a daily Yoga/guided meditation class for the ashram residents. So we went. Around 20 people showed up, wearing mostly white clothes. Mats were provided and it was a very relaxing type of yoga, not the strenuous kind. The lady who guided us had a very soothing voice and I fell asleep trying to follow her directions.

Up and down the Ganges, the evening aarthi is performed in a grand manner right around sunset. The residents of Paramarth Niketan are given preferred seating for the Ganga Aarthi.

After the aarthi, we noticed the others residents practically rushing to the dining area. The meal times are fixed and there is only 45 minutes given for dinner, hence the rush. A few foreigners struggled with sitting cross-legged on the mats. For lunch and dinner, the food was hearty and wholesome- chappatis, rice, dal and veggies. Toasts, fruit and tea and coffee were included for breakfast, which the westerners enjoyed quite a bit.

This particular ashram has clearly adapted things to cater to the foreign visitors. The ambience is very good, with careful landscaping and places to walk by the fast-flowing river. Once we paid the room rent, there was never any pressure to give money anywhere else. We were free to donate more if we so desired, or to leave our email addresses if we wanted to be part of their distribution list.

Overall, our ashram stay was a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of days, though it might get repetitive beyond say two days. I would unhesitatingly recommend this to anyone visiting Rishikesh.

Day Laborers in Jodhpur

I was out wandering in Jodhpur one morning. It was just past eight in the morning when I crossed Sanjin Gate and entered the old city. The big square there that was full of men, standing and waiting. There were no women only men waiting. It was easy to see that these were day laborers waiting for work, and I decided to stay and watch since I had time.

Seeing me standing there, one man came over.
“Where are you from?” he asked, making conversation. He spoke in a mix of Rajasthani and Hindi and I could only follow him partially. Another man, his hair tinged with orange due to henna, also walked over.
“You are not looking for laborers, are you?” he asked. Before I could respond, the first man said, “Maybe he too is looking for work!” and they both laughed good naturedly at the idea of me doing physical labor.

Spotting me talking to the two of them, some thought that I was looking to hire people. Many laborers rushed over. Suddenly, I was surrounded by over a dozen men, desperate for work. They hurled questions at me in Hindi, and it was a little scary.
“What kind of work do you have?”
“Tell. What is it that you want?”
“How many people do you need?”
No, I am a tourist and I am just watching, I explained. Most of the men lost interest and walked away.

Every few minutes, someone in a motorcycle would come up to the square. Men rushed towards these motorbike hirers. There would be a quick conference that lasted just a few seconds, and a few men would be selected and they’d start walking away from the square. The actual mechanics of the selection was never clear to me.

The man with the orange henna hair stayed with me. He was in his late twenties, wearing a short pant and a shirt, both of which were very dirty. He was walking around bare feet, no shoes or sandals when he worked.
“Is there work in Bombay?” he asked me. (I had told him that I had come from Mumbai.)
I told him that from what I knew, it was very difficult to get work there as well.

There were about 200 men in the square. “Will all of them get work?” I asked.
The man, surprised by my naivety looked up as if to see if I was joking. “Not even half of them will get work today.”
“What will the rest of them do?”
“They will go home. What else can they do?” It was a simple case of over-supply and thus a hirer's market. Those who hired the laborers got to pick and choose. Though I have never been a fan of labor unions, it occurred to me that a little bit of organization among the men would help them all.

I then asked the man what the daily pay was.
“200 rupees per day.”
“Has it been 200 for many years?” I was curious if laborers also got an inflation adjustment.
“No, it was increased recently. Five years ago, it was 150 Rupees. Then it became 180 and now it is 200. Sometimes, we can even get 250 a day. And this is for the common mazdoors. If you are a skilled worker, you can get 400 or more per day.”
“Is it for 8 hours of work?”
“Yes, 8 hours. We get tea at 11 o'clock, then 1 hour for lunch, a few minutes in the afternoon and work till 6pm. It is tough, but we are happy to get work.”
“Why don’t you look for regular employment? Maybe in a shop somewhere.”
“They won’t pay us well. If you don’t get at least 3000 a month, it is very difficult. Even if they pay 2800 a month, it is not enough. That’s why we look for daily work.”

“Is 200 rupees enough to get by?” I asked him a leading question.
In reply, he pointed towards a woman in a colorful dress was walking by with a big bundle of wood balanced on her head. “Even firewood costs five rupees a kilo. Just to get the stove going! And you know what the prices of dal and atta and vegetables are.”
He was silent for a few seconds. “Actually, 200 rupees can be quite enough," he said. "There are some men who are even able to save some money daily after all expenses.”

Gesturing towards the laborers in the square he said, “But most of the men here, they drink it away. Me, I have 4 children at home. So I give a little money to feed the children.” He then laughed. “The rest, I drink away.” He emphasized that by taking his thumb towards his mouth.

Daily Roti Guaranteed

Traveling in Rajasthan and looking at the sights, at the good roads, all the mobile phone shops and the unending mineral water stalls, it is difficult to believe that there is very much poverty in the state.

One afternoon, we were wandering around the small town of Kolayat with its lotus-filled lake ringed by temples in the scorching sun, when I saw a big yellow sign painted on a wall.

The sign on the wall was actually an advertisement for the government’s Rural Employment Guaranteed Act - NREGA. (Note: I have since heard a lot of drawbacks about the scheme, but this post is not about that.) For anyone who's willing to do physical work, the scheme guarantees a daily wage.

The yellow sign listed out in tables, the quanta of physical work that had to be performed each day, and the pay for that amount of work.

People were required to dig the earth and create ditches. Per day, each person was required to dig a ditch 10 ft by 5 ft by 1 ft deep. For this work, they would be paid a total of 100 Rs. ($2). 30% would be deducted as tax at the source. So each person ended up earning Rs 70 for the whole day.

Women laborers were expected to do the same amount of work and they were paid the same as men. When it came to hard physical labor, there was no gender discrimination.

For us, just staying in comfortable hotels and eating three meals a day with a little bit of sightseeing itself seemed very tiring. During the day, the dry desert heat was enervating. I couldn’t even imagine the hardship of digging a ditch in this heat. And for removing 50 cubic feet of hard packed earth, they got 100 Rupees. This translates to a rate of 2 Rupees (4 cents) for each cubic foot that they cleared.

And I had been naively wondering if poverty was still around in Rajasthan.

The Desert Train

In Rajasthan, we discovered that one very good way to view the desert was to take the morning train from Bikaner to Jaisalmer. From the comfort of our compartment seats, we were able to watch the train cut through the Thar desert. This is a relatively new line and was completed only a couple of years ago.

The train travels right along the desert shrubs and the sand. If you stare out long enough, you’ll see all the animals that you are likely to encounter in the desert – camels, dikdiks and all types of cattle.

There was just one drawback though. The blowing sand. No matter how much we tried, we couldn’t avoid the fine sand dust that got into our bags and clothes.

The Jaisalmer Express (Train 4704) at 7am from the Lalgarh station, which is a sister station to Bikaner. Perhaps due to a small bug in the railway reservations system, this train doesn’t show up when you search for trains departing Bikaner. You have to know enough to put in Lalgarh as the originating station, and I doubt that many try that.

Consequently, our train was practically empty. We had pretty much the whole compartment to ourselves, which is quite a luxury in a crowded country like India.