Ankara

Thıs Turkısh keyboard is a real mess. From the English keyboard to the German to Turkish! It all seems to come out garbled so I hope what you see is at least somewhat intelligible!

We arrived ın Ankara on the 20th after seeıng Bablu off at the international airport. Ayse's father lives in a very fashionable part of Ankara called Kavaklıdere, with a street full of swanky shops just around the corner. Mostly like on Warden Road in Bombay, they are clothes and shoe shops and there are also lots of jewellery shops.

Ayse's dad (Mr. Arcan) lives ın this posh building which ıs part of a complex of three buildings. His apartment though has an old fashioned look. Lots of ornate furniture and drapes and sofas in dark velvetty brown covers and walls covered wıth floral wall paper. A's dad has lots of photos of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk pinned up on the walls and cuttings from various newspapers. He is quite deaf but talks for hours and hours - mostly in Turkish, with Ayse. Then out of the blue he turns to me wıth fiery eyes and says something lıke 'Then the Brıtısh gave them shorts and they were very angry and ...' he twirls his little finger near his forehead to ındicate madness and fıxes me with this indıgnant look as if expectıng me to not only understand what he is saying but also to agree with him. Well at least now I know where Ayse ınherits her propensity for talkıng!

Yesterday Ayse, Kader and I went to the old part of Ankara, to the Fort and the museum. Kader is the girl who works for Ayse's father - cooks, cleans and generally looks after the house. She comes in at about 10 in the morning and leaves at 5 pm. She is young and extremely fashionable. Mostly in hipster blue jeans and a short top exhibiting two inches of slim midrıff. She has a very fancy hairstyle - long hair pulled over to one side and a red or a white rose (artıfıcıal) tucked behind her ear.

The museum of Anatolian Civilisatation was interestıng. We saw a lot of artefacts dating back to more than 5000 years BC! Wall paintings, arrow heads, figurines of women (mostly fat and squat with more than a passing resemblance to Ganesha). Also tablets wıth the earliest form of writıng. Chandran would have loved it and asked a million questions.

The old fort is quite a climb up but worth the effort. Inside is a lovely vıllage and the people carry on with their daily lives quite placidly. There are of course the usual shops and cafes - we stopped for a lemonade at a really nice cafe, wıth stained glass windows and floors covered with persian rugs and the walls decorated with colourful wall hangings. The seating ıs mainly on the floor but they also have a few benches covered wıth rugs to sıt on.

After we got going again, a couple of small boys followed us around and plied us with bits of historical information (a lot of which sounded made up) for which Ayse rewarded them with a few coins. They were most happy.

Along the way we passed shops which looked like our own grocery stores, selling soft drinks and potato chips - even the same brands - eg. Lay's!! There were others sellıng carpets and bags and silver and brass bowls. In the courtyards of the houses we saw women sitting around, knittıng or peeling vegetables or doing housework. All very homely.

The traffıc in Ankara is terrible. Nobody stops at the Zebra crossıng and in fact there are hardly any. The streets are also typical third world (or Asian?) streets. Broken down and with the pavements about one foot off the ground.

Now in a while Ayse and I will continue with our walk. More nex time.