तुर्कनामा - मीना प्रभु

"इराणी गाथा" वाचल्यानंतर लगेहाथ 'तुर्कनामा' वाचायचं कारण जवळपास तेच - ह्या देशात कधी जाईन असं वाटत नाही तेव्हा पुस्तक वाचूनच माहिती मिळवावी. खरं तर तुर्कस्तान बद्दल माहिती म्हणजे टर्किश लिरा, बाथ, कॉफी आणि आतातुर्क. पैकी शेवटल्या आतातुर्कने ह्या देशाचा कायापालट करायला बरेच कष्ट घेतले असं कुठेतरी वाचल्याचं अंधुकसं आठवत होतं. पण ते किती वर्षांपूर्वी आणि ह्या देशाची सध्याची स्थिती काय ह्याबाबत मी पूर्णपणे कोरी. इथेही ते हिजाब आणि चादोर प्रकरण आहे की काय ह्याचीही काही कल्पना नाही. ह्या देशात मशिदी सोडून आणखी काय पहाण्यासारखं असणार आहे ह्या भावनेने पुस्तक वाचायला घेतलं आणि स्वत:च्या अज्ञानाची अतीव कीव आली.

नेमरुतचे ३० फुट उंच पुतळे, तिथला सूर्यास्त, अंकारा म्युझियम, अनित कबिर आणि म्युझियम, गोर्डीओन, युर्गुपचे गरम पाण्याचे झरे, अंडरग्राउन्ड सिटी आणि सराई, व्हर्लिंग दरवेश, गोरेमेचा सनसेट पोईंट, बलून राईड, ओपन एयर म्युझियम, डेमरेचं सेंट निकलस Cathedral, केकोव्हाची sunken city, ऑलिम्पस गावाची शिमेरा, फेतीएची गॉर्ज, दालीयानची महाकासवं, पामुक्कलेचा सनसेट, पर्गामा प्रिझन, दिदिम, मिलेतूस, इफेसुस, चानक्कले, गेलीपोली, Troy, चूनुक बेअर. आणि खुद्द इस्तंबुलमध्ये सुलेमानिया मशीद, तोपकापी राजवाडा, आय्या सोफिया, ब्लू मॉस्क, कोरा चर्च, म्युझियम, मेहेर ताकिमी, पेरा पेलेस हॉटेल मधली एगाथा ख्रिस्टीची खोली, पाण्याचा भुयारी साठा, दोल्बामाचे राजवाडा, Grand Bazar, Archaeological Museum. बाप रे! प्रत्येक गोष्ट पहाण्याजोगी. इथे जायचं म्हणजे भलीमोठी सुट्टी पाहिजे. सिम्पली अमेझिंग!

इथेही बायकांनी बुरखे घालायला सुरुवात केली आहे हे वाचून मात्र चिंता वाटली. असं झालं तर आमच्यासारख्यांना हे देश कसे पहायला मिळणार? हिजाब आणि चादोर वगैरे घालून पहायला जाणं मला काही जमायचं नाही :-( असो. पुस्तकात सर्व प्रेक्षणीय स्थळांचं वर्णन मस्त केलंय. तिथल्या जनतेची मतं तसंच त्यांची जीवनसरणी ह्याचंही छान दर्शन होतं. पण एक गोष्ट मात्र खटकली. 'केस झाक' म्हणून दरडावणारया माणसाला मीना प्रभुंनी जसं खडसावलं तसं कारण नसताना उगाच हिंदुस्थानला नावं ठेवणाऱ्या त्या गाईडला का हासडलं नाही? कधीकधी असे अनुभव येतात' असा बोटचेपा पवित्रा घेऊन का गप्प बसल्या? :-( ह्यांच्या पुस्तकांबद्दलची माझी नेहमीची तक्रार - ज्या देशात जातात तिथले खाद्यपदार्थ आणि संगीत ह्यांचं वर्णन अभावानेच येतं - ह्याही पुस्तकाबाबत आहे.

अर्थात मी कधीकाळी तुर्कस्तानला जायचं ठरवलंच तर 'तुर्कनामा' बरोबर घेऊन जाणार हे नक्की.

I Am Another You - Priya Kumar

Make an appointment with a government officer - http://myvisit.gov.in/public/Home.aspx

Tweet if you see a criminal - http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/NrfYYnJcgRucdVPwJLGWQM/Tweet-if-you-see-a-criminal.html

This is more of a note to myself than a blog post. In the June issue of Outlook Money magazine, I came across an article on Badami. So just listing out places of interest there for future reference:

Agastya Lake
Bhootnath Temple
Fort and museum
Village of Mahakuta is site of Chalukya temples of 6th century
Village Aihole has 5th century's 125 rock temples
Durga temple, Lal Khan temple, Agastya temple
Pattadakal,
Gokak falls

Note: Badami is 150 kms from Belgaum

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care

-- Theodore Roosevelt

Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive - by Harvey B. Mackay

Gods, Kings and Slaves - The Siege Of Madurai- by R.Venkatesh

Though I have decided that I will read mostly Marathi books this year, I decided to give this one a try because it looked like it would be interesting. In the beginning it did look like it would fulfill the promise.

Veera, the illegitimate son of Kulasekharan, the King of Madurai, is every inch what you would expect a prince to be - handsome, intelligent and brave. Whereas the King's legitimate son, Sundar, does not amount to much when it comes to the battlefield but expects to inherit the throne nonetheless. My Indian mind accepted this black-and-white portraying without a murmur though we all know that in real life people seldom are pure good or pure evil - though I have come very close to finding 1-2 people who fit the later. Anyways, the King bows down to the pressue from the Queen and sends Veera to the far-off Sri Lanka to straighten out the warring factions there. In the meantime, Veera's lady love, Sunanda (who happens to be Sundar's maternal cousin) is married off to Sundar. When Veera returns he expects to be shunted out of the race for the post of the Crown Prince but defying all odds ends up being one. In due course of time, Sundar poisons his father but Veera moves swiftly, takes over the throne and banishes Sundar.

Another story that runs parallel to that of Veera and Sundar, is that of a person who is called Ram in the early stages of life but by a cruel twist of fate ends up being an eunuch called Malik Kafoor. Destiny makes sure that the paths of these three cross eventually and when that happens none of them come up smelling like roses.

As far as I am concerned, the stories seemed just too long-winded, often leaving me wondering if there was a point to this all. From the title of the book it appears as if the whole book is about the siege but that is not so. The siege doesn't happen till the very end of the book and when it happens there is nothing dramatic about it - no clever tactics, no palace intrigues, no decisions turning the outcome of the battle. Towards the end, I had to try hard to make myself finish the book. Some of the things were left unexplained like for example  the significance of the stone elephants coming to life in the Meenakshi temple.

I didn't know that all this is based on true historical events though I remembered reading about Malik Kafur somewhere in history books and the program 'Ekaant' on Epic Channel had introduced me to the Hoysala dynasty. Later search on the internet revealed that there indeed was a Pandyan king called Veera and Malik Kafur had indeed laid the siege to the city of Madurai.

I guess I would have preferred to read about this in the history books :-(