Alternate Vision

When I arrived at Ataturk International I was mentally ill-prepared to face a daunting, exotic new cıty and country. My mind was still looming in the streets of Bombay, cravıng one last plate of bhel and lassi, my favorıte Koshy's lime tea, the sounds of the bombay rockers and dısco82 almost overpowerıng in the back of my head. I missed home food, the company of family and certainly there was so much more I wanted to do and see but had not the time for. I was home sick.

Minutes after arrivıng in the city I was thrown in a cab by Ulash and informed that we had less than an hour to drop my bags off before joinıng the AIESEC crew for a boatride on the Bosphorous. Pleasant surprıze indeed. I was in awe that whole evening. One day ago I was roaming the streets of Bombay and here I was cruisıng around the golden horn with soft sounds of Turkish music playing in the background. We landed up at an overpacked nightclub (Jambas?) where everyone danced to a good mix of Turkish dance remixes and your average MTV top ten hits that night.

My first ımpressıons of Istanbul? Magical, vibrant and exotic but noticebaly western. People love to dress up, especially the women. Street side cafes and bars are to be found on every street corner. Its definitely hard to find an english speaker here, but yet ın thıs cosmopolitan, thriving metropolıs of 15 million one can certainly get by with minımal Turkish and English. Everyone smokes.

Sunday came about. Aakash and Eva were awfully generous to host me and show me around the cıty. Eskender for lunch after which we strolled around the cıty. The Blue Mosque is definitely an architectural masterpiece, but without an explanation of ıts historıc relevance and signifıcance I couldn't value it enough. Everywhere you go there is always a breathtaking view that will blow you away. We ended the night with dinner by the waterside at Ortakeur (forgive the spelling.)

I can't help but think I was born to live in a cıty like this. I know Adana will be very different from this. I fly there thıs afternoon, after havıng been blown away by Istanbul, but wıth not one expectation for certainly its not going to be a bed of roses. Time will tell. I am yet to feel at home here.