The Official Blog Of Ritam Saha

Over the sleepy villages along the Poonch border, dawn was beginning to stretch its limbs beyond the horizon. The hidden sun glowed in all its light behind the white snowy mountains. The goats were up by now, and with sure feet, they scoured the slopes for graze. A little boy rose from the stony floor of his hut, pushing off the heavy rug that had kept him safe all through the chilly night. Around him, it was still dark, and his father was snoring peacefully in the single room. A faint bulb flickered in the darkness, but it was enough to find him his bag and clothes tucked away near the table. The table was the only real piece of furniture in the room. Everything else was an undecipherable mess of cloth, fabric and stray wood. His quick feet carried him on the brittle village road. The stream gurgled in the distance. The valley looked beautiful here. In the realm of Kashmir, everything was beautiful. With no time to admire, the little boy hurried on. If they only had money, his fa...

As a traveller, I usually fall in love with the places I visit. There can be hundreds of reasons why, but with Turkey, everything seems to be different. You can fall in love with its vibrant colours, and yet not overlook its delectable cuisine. You could admire beautiful Cappadocia, and yet not forget mighty Istanbul. Turkey has a character, one that I have never felt before and probably never will. A mesmerizing mix of the exotic and the familiar, this great nation is definitely much more than its clichéd image of a “bridge between East and West”. Invaded and settled from every direction since the start of recorded history, it combines influences from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Central Asia. Mosques coexist with churches, Roman theatres and temples crumble near ancient Hittite cities, and dervish ceremonies and gipsy festivals are as much a part of the social landscape as classical music concerts or football matches. The friendliness of the Turkish ...

Ankara in all it's glory Most people visiting Turkey do not bother to stop by Ankara. I luckily did not commit this mistake. After a four-hour long bus journey from the Cappadocian town of Nevsehir, here I was, in the Turkish capital. The number of police cars and personnel on the streets exceeded the numbers in all other Turkish cities. The red and blue flashes gave the capital its official look. The streets of this official destination are lined with hotels and government offices: a capital city doing its job. A few paces away from where I was staying, the statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk looked over the   A statue of Ataturk in his office district, perched on his horse as a commander. The sober lights of the Ottoman styled Osmanli Mosque spilt onto the rushing traffic. It was only a couple of hours since I had checked in, that the sun set in a sea of red, leaving the sky pale and dark. The cars rushed along below, and the lights had been left on. Ankara did not sleep th...

The travertines are beautiful in turquoise and white Of the many historic wonders the world has known, some of the most intriguing lie in Turkey. Visitors to this transcontinental nation often stop by the Bosphorus, the turquoise waves of the Mediterranean and famed Cappadocia, the land of mystery. Though not as frequently visited as the above, the town of Denizli is still frequented by large tourist crowds. It is here that the ancient Roman city of Hierapolis once stood. Today, all that is left of the city is a mass of rubble, and Pamukkale, a sequence of limestone travertines flowing into the Menderes Valley. Getting to Pamukkale, as the site is popularised, is no difficult task. I travelled from Kusadasi, a resort town and cruise ship port on the   Turkish Airlines even has a Boeing 737 named after Denizli Mediterranean coast, but tours leave other regions too. Denizli has an airport which is served by the flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, as well as other r...