TODAY'S GENTLEMEN BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS BE MY BOYS

                                   

There are some professions where seniority always counts. Though disciplinary aspect of seniority evades with the passage of time, but when looking back the seniors of the profession always find the gentlemen of today as nothing else but their juniors.

The profession of Chartered Accountancy is also the same. Here everyone enters the field as being a junior of someone. However within a passage of time, he finds his own juniors lining behind him, and so on and so forth. The profession of Chartered Accountancy (in my days 1970s and 1980s) was a bit different from what it is now a days, however the criteria of being a junior or a senior is still there and i hope will always be there.

The Seniors in the profession though do have to teach and train the juniors yet, they do have to get the work out of them too. For this the seniors do go through various tactics and styles, which indeed differ from person to person. The senior acts as the boss and disciplinarian at one hand and as the best friend on the other. As the years pass by, the juniors do grow up , leave the audit firms, join other professions and/or businesses, etc etc, yet the moments that they shared with their seniors become eternal, unforgetable and perhaps valuable memories.

I joined Rahim Jan & Co. Chartered Accountants in April 1974 as an Articled Clerk (after passing my B.Com). Finished my Articledship in 1976, and left the company. I stayed home till 1979 (during which i worked for a 8months period in Hameed Chaudhri &Co.). I re-joined Rahim Jan &Co. immediately after qualifiying as Chartered Accountant in 1979. (I was 24 years old then). I worked at various positions in the company till July 1991, when i left Pakistan for good.

The idea behind writing all this is to emphasis the length of the period in which i experienced the seniority relationship with the juniors. There must be hundreds of juniors who worked under me and i played minor or major role in grooming them, however i personally classify these juniors in two. One, those who worked under me for a short period of time, and got transferred to work under some other senior. Secondly, those who remain attached to me as my junior on my audit assignments for a longer period and we developed friendship among us. I refer to the juniors falling in the second category as MY BOYS. Among us we have developed a unique relationship . It is a unique mixture of mutual respect and friendship.

Years have passed, MY BOYS grew up. Went out in the practical world. Joined various organisations or started their own businesses. Got married, have children, some even became grandfathers. But still they are MY BOYS. And i am sure, they never mind when i call them (today's gentlemen) as my boys. This is a specail relationship between us. THEY ARE GOING TO BE MY BOYS FOREVER. I consider it as an honour for me to refer to them like that. I am proud of them.



I may clarify that MY BOYS can be sub-divided into two further categories. First, those who remained my juniors during the first half of the 1980s. They were much closer to me, also because of lesser age difference.
However, most of them left me after completing their periods of Articledship or whenever they found some other good working opportunity.
The Second ones are those who became my junior during the later half of the 1980s. There was rather a bit larger age differences between us. Although, we did have good working and personal relaitonship with them, yet they generally remained different from the First ones.

I am out of Pakistan since 1991. However whenever i visit Pakistan i do meet one or two of my boys. But it was this year (2012) when i visited Karachi for a short 10 days period , my boys (mostly from the early 1980s periods) did organise themselves and took time our for a collective get-together with me. It was indeed something unforgetable. I felt honoured.

However there was one exception. Mr. HASSAN AHMED , one of my juniors from late 1980s took pain to find me out, helped me a lot on more than one count during my stay, and was kind enough to take me out for a fantastic dinner at Lal Qila, with Mr. Waqar Hassan (an another friend of exceptionally high calibre ).

Returning back to the two lunches arranged by My boys, i would say that it was a unique opportunity to relive the old but golden days of our lives. For most of the period that we were there we were just recalling incidents that we had been passed through jointly on one or more audit assignments during the 1980s. We perhaps ate less (not from the point of the view of the host , who paid good amounts for that), because we remained too busy in talking and laughing, repeating the old jokes and funny encounters and personal adventures, during the audit periods.

I am too thankful to Mr. ZAHID AQEEL, the Board Secretary of Civil Aviation Authority, who took out his time to attend the lunch with me. He was my junior in Rahim Jan & Co. . I met him for the first time when i re-joined the company in 1979 after qualifying. He was the senior of the audit of Khairpur Textile Mills, when that job was handed over to me. So he was my junior in technical sense of the word, but not a junior to whom i taught the audit task. He was also with me at the audit of Bengal Fibres Ltd. It is very nice of him that he still considers me as his Senior and respect. I feel grateful and honoured.

Whenever i discuss my period in the audit profession, it always remain incomplete without finding SUHAIL AHMED in the middle. And mind it, this is not my personal opinion, all of my boys from the early 1980s period believe that Suhail is the one who is just simply unignorable person. Whenever any two of my boys from that period meets or talks on telephone even, their conversation never completes without referring to Suhail, in one way or another. He was one extraordinarily witted person, who has not yet lost his style and characteristics. He is still the same Suhail that he used to be on KESC or or any of my other audit assignments. Suhail is just Suhail, because he is simply the only one of his kind.

As i mentioned earlier, no conversation even becomes complete without mentioning the name of Suhail between us, so how could there be a re-union of my boys without him. On 12th December 2012 the lunch re-union was arranged by Zaki, but at the last moment Suhail had excused himself due to death of one of his close relatives. We did go out for the lunch, but we agreed that we MUST once again meet the next day at lunch WITH Suhail. He is so important a personality among us..So next day once again we met at lunch with Suhail . Although the lunch was in my honour, yet there was no doubt that Suhail was the centre of all attention.

Suhail, in fact was my class fellow in Premier College, when we were doing our Bachelors of Commerce (1972/73). We knew each other by face, but we perhaps never came across during that period. We came across once again during 1978 when i worked for a short period of 8 months in Hameed Chaudhri & Co. Chartered Accountants. I had completed my Articled ship and passed the CA Intermediate exam. Suhail, was completing his Auditship at Hameed Chaudhri & Co. We developed good understanding among us, during this 8 months time. Suhail joined Rahim Jan & Co. a little later, as Senior, after completing the period of his Auditship. I was working as the job incharge , after qualifying CA, with Rahim Jan & Co. Suhail made a direct entry on my all jobs as the job Senior. For the most part of time that we two remained in Rahim Jan, Suhail remained the Senior of my audit assignments. The uneding friendship that started during that period is still strong. For Suhail it is not just i, but all of my boys say. SUHAIL THE GREAT.


                                                                   SUHAIL AHMED


                            FROM LEFT TO RIGHT HUMAYUN MAJEED, HASHMAT ALI, MUHAMMAD ZAKI, SUHAIL AHMED, AHMET ABDULAZIZ (myself)




from left to right .........myself ANWAR IQBAL, KHURSHEED AKHTAR, NASRULLAH ZUBEIRI






                        ALAMGEER AKHTAR                                      

                            HASHMAT ALI

                  NASRULLAH ZUBEIRI                                        


                       MUHAMMAD ZAKI




 
                       















                     HUMAYUN MAJEED

NOTE: All of the above photos were taken and sent by Suhail.

And here under are some photographs taken at lunch, on 12th December 2012 at Lal Qila restaurant , Karachi. organised by my boys in my honour.

from left to right ....... MYSELF, HUMAYUN MAJEED, ANWAR IQBAL, MUHAMMAD ZAKI, KHURSHEED ANWAR, HASHMAT ALI, NASRULLAH ZUBEIRI and ZAHID AQEEL

In fact it was a wonderful re-union of my boys from early 1980s, however, there still were a few more ones left out, who were either could not be contacted or were out of the country. Among these were KAFEEL AHMED, MUHAMMAD FEROZE ALAM, MUHAMMAD HUSSAIN KHAN, SALMAN AHMED, MASOOD HASAN, etc. I hope to come in contact with them in near future.

I always miss all of MY BOYS.

I will add some more photographs in near future.

MY REQUEST TO ALL OF MY BOYS IS TO READ THE ABOVE AND SEND ME THEIR SHORT BIO DATA AND CONTACT NUMBERS, WHICH I INTEND TO INCLUDE HERE.

A NIGHT IN DUBAI - BUT WITH A DIFFERENCE

I know that i am different. This is why i usually do not get offended or desperate when things start taking a totally different turn.. My latest ten days Pakistan visit too brought me face to face quite too many interesting incidents, leading to so many ,of the beat sort of stories to be shared.

I stayed in Dubai for about 20 hours. It was an unplanned stay. Unplanned anything always mean thrill to me.  The thrill however sometimes  furthers by unexpectedly un-folding of new chapters that may end up like a horror movie. This was exactly what had happened on that particular day when i spent 20 hours at Dubai Airport.

It was the night between 14th and 15th December 2012.

Before starting the real story, i must explain a bit of some basic facts that would help understanding the whole issue.

1. My Pakistan passport was long finished. I had neither got that extended nor got a new one.
2. I have got a passport of the TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS, which is an unrecognised country, recognised only by Turkey.
3. So far i had been travelling on my TRNC passport for going to Turkey.
4. This time i decided to use my TRNC passport for travelling beyond Turkey, although knowing that except Turkey this passport has not been accepted anywhere.
5. I did manage to get a visa from the Pakistan consulate in Istanbul, for visiting Pakistan. It was a big success for me. However it was a sort of unofficial visa, because Pakistan does not recognise TRNC Passport.
6. I was having a return ticket from Emirates from Istanbul/Dubai/Karachi and back.
7.While Checking in at the Emirates counter at istanbul for my flight from Istanbul to Karachi through Dubai, they had objected to my passport and had refused to board me on the plane, however as a last resort they had got a paper signed by me where i had accepted to be personally responsible for everything if things does not go the desired way (that is an another story)

Well i now return  back to the Dubai adventure.

I knew Emirates for its punctuality, however this time it had drastically shattered that image. The Karachi/Dubai flight took off from Karachi more than an hour late.
It was a nice and normal flight, with good service.

There was going to be more than 2 hours transit period for me at Dubai, in which i was supposed to catch my next connecting Emirates flight to Istanbul. But it was already late.

I had had to rush for my connecting flight. My baggage was already booked directly for Istanbul. But there was something which was out of my control. I simply do not know the logic of Emirates. As the plane landed and we got out of the it, they boarded the passengers in a bus ,  and the bus kept on running for around 20 minutes, to reach the entrance door of the main airport building. It was something like a Tour de Apron sort of free service run by Emirates. It reminded me of the hijacked planes which have usually been parked at the remote area of the airport. Perhaps my plane too was parked at some remote area of the airport, or as i have mentioned just earlier too , Emirates wanted to have a good view of the airport from the apron. . The same had had happened  on my way to Karachi, and the same was happening this time too.

Ultimately when i reached the airport building i did know that i would have to rush if i wanted to catch the connecting flight.
I did know that there was no sign mentioning TRANSIT PASSENGERS from the gate where the passengers land in to the point where they end up in a hall. From there when you turn left (i had learnt that) there are huge elevators, (marked TRANSFERS)which go to one particular place. I ultimately reached the destined point. Reaching that particular floor, you do not get a sign or arrow marking where the transit passengers should go. However i did know that i did have to reach a TRANSFER counter of EMIRATES. There were two Bengali clerks sitting there. I showed them my ticket and boarding card. One of them told me that i must run fast to catch the plane. But which way should i go ?

I asked a sweeper there, and he told me to go ahead. On that way there was a queue. Passengers were passing through the scanning machine one by one. I wasted a lot of time there. Then again there were no signs to lead me. I asked the security man there. He told me that i should go ahead , then turn right, from there take the escalators to reach my gate. I ran through the whole course. My gate was  was not too near. I literally ran. At last i reached the required gate.

There was an emigration officer at the boarding point. I showed him my passport and ticket. As expected, he asked me that which country's passport that was. so i told him the story. He called an another person, and they both tried to locate this country (TRNC) in their booklet. I do not know if they found this name in some list of unrecognised countries. But they decided to take photographs  of my passport. Once this process was finished i was showed the way to the Emirates staff, who simply refused to take me in. I was shocked. I was told that since my Karachi/Dubai flight had arrived late, so my baggage could not be collected by them. I was told that i would have to wait for the next flight. I was told that the next Istanbul bound flight would be the next morning at 10.50am. I was told to go to the Transfer Desk H.

But where was the TRANSFER DESK H ?. I simply did not know. When asked i was showed a way to go ahead. I  was told that i would have to go down. I went to the place directed, but there the excellators were going up. There was no way to go down.

I started feeling myself lost. There was no way to go. There were two other foreigners who too were trying to find the way out. I asked a sweeper to show me some way out. He told me that first i must go through the screening machines to re enter the hall from where i would be going to the Transfer Desk H. I had had to follow that way.

At last i succeeded in finding the Transfer Desk H. Interestingly it was the same desk where two bengali officials were sitting who had told me to run fast to catch the plane. When i reached back to them, one of them laughingly but in a very cunning voice asked me as to why i did not run fast to catch the plane. I felt hurt, but preferred to keep quite. I told him that i did go to the gate but i was told that they could not have collected my baggage and i would have to take the next flight the next morning. As i was explaining this to them, the other one in a very harshly tone blamed me that i had never reached the gate. I was shocked to hear such a blame. He said that the plane was still there waiting for ONE passenger. I felt myself totally confused and lost, as i was unable to figure out what was happening. There must have been something wrong somewhere.

What was wrong, did come to light within moments. The other fellow sitting next to him,told him that he was looking at a WRONG FLIGHT, and my aero plane had already left. Interestingly the guy who had blamed me of not going to the gate, never felt the need to apologise. It was my time to say some strong words to him, but i opted to remain cool.

I was told to go to the other part of the same section to an another staff member of Emirates. I was told that Emirates would arrange for my boarding and lodging, for my overnight stay in Dubai. But ofcourse , in my case things usually do not turn up the normal way. The filipino girl on the counter started questioning me about country of which passport i was carrying. As in previous cases, she called her senior, who reassessed my passport. However, within a few minutes they decided to give me a Hotel Coupon. I was told to go to the CUSTOMER SERVICE DESK. When asked about its location i was told to go down (or was it to go up?). Well, i found an elevator, boarded in it, but there was only one push button in it. I had had to go out where it took me to. Out there, i asked about the Customer Services Desk, i was told to go to the Arrivals section. Again the same question arose. Where was ARRIVALS?

Well to cut all this mind boggling hectic ups and downs,short, i managed to reach the Customers Services Desk. A polite gentleman there helped me there and explained that i would have to cross through the Emigration counter, then i will find a Bus No. 1 outside the main gate, which would take me directly to the hotel. He told me that i would be boarding the same bus the next morning to reach back the airport in time. Everything seemed  going to happen perfectly, as explained. But it was me. So nothing was going to happen the normal way.

Although surely knowing what was going to happen, but i took my turn in the queues before the emigration cabins. It took sometime to come in front of the guy sitting there. He took my passport in his hands, and literally checked it three times. Then he photographed me, and repeatedly asked me to keep my eyes wide open while being photographed. After he succeeded taking my photograph, he started asking me the same questions about my passport and nationality that i had been through so many times. In the end me he asked me to go to his officer, who was sitting in a distant room. I went there. The two officers sitting there investigated my passport and my identity, and then cancelled my Hotel Voucher. I was not allowed to go out in Dubai and to stay in the Hotel granted by the Emirates. A new adventure had just started.

I had had to find some way out.

So i went back to the same Customers service counter. I again explained the whole story to the guy sitting there. I told him that i wont mind spending my night at the airport. In fact, in my mind, i had prepared myself for an adventurous night at the Dubai Airport. However, the guy there phoned here and there and told me to stay at the Dubai International Airport Hotel, (inside the Airport building). He told me that i would be taking food voucher from the Emirates counter.

As usual he explained me how to get to the Hotel. But there were quite too many left and right turns, excellators etc in the plan, that in the end i found myself totally messed up. However, ultimately i succeeded in finding the hotel. (perhaps it would be easier to me if he had told me to go to floor no.5) It was on the 5th floor. of the building. When i reached the hotel, i realised why it became too difficult for me to find the hotel.

Actually, i was told to go to the DUBAİ INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, but on all leading signs on all the flours HOTEL was written, whereas i was trying to find out the Dubai International Hotel. Secondly when i ultimately reached the 5th floor, i could read the room numbers on the rooms by the corridors, then i read the boards of spa, massage salon etc etc on some rooms, but i was looking for the Dubai International Hotel. After crossing over 200 metres of the corridors, i ended up in front of the Reception desk of the Hotel. For the first time there i read the board mentioning Dubai International Hotel. I wondered what had stopped them hanging boards at least on the fifth floor mentioning that it was the Dubai International Hotel, But they had preferred to write only HOTEL, which might have been proper for all other passenger who must have been knowing that there was no other hotel in the building. Again i realised that they had never thought that one day a passenger named Ahmet Abdulaziz would turn up and go through all these problems.

I always wonder if such things happen to me only?

Interestingly the computer system of the hotel was not working. So i had had to wait there for sometime, but the filipino girl there was kind enough to get the entrance card filled by me. She gave me a card  for the room number 2018. I was happy , i had succeeded.in getting a room to spend my night in. For me it was a big success.

I put my bag in the room. It was a really luxurious room. But i was hungry. The next step thus was to go to the relevant Emirates counter and get the Food Voucher. I came out of the room, went to the Reception, and asked her as to where would i have to go for my Food Voucher. She told me ONE FLOOR DOWN. She showed me the way to the elevator. I entered it. The door closed. I had had to go to ONE FLOOR DOWN. According to my simple logic One floor down from flour 5th is 4th. But inside the elevator the situation was different. There was no push button for the 4th floor. The elevator was operating between 3rd and the 5th floor. There was no other way out for me but to get out at the third floor. It was the Duty Free shop area, and i had to find some stairs or elevators to reach the 4th floor. I asked a filipino girl on one of the counters. "How can i go to the 4th floor", i asked. " FIRST Floor?", she enquired. I told her that i wanted to go to the FOURTH floor. This time i showed her four fingers to support my enquiry. But again she could not come out with a reply. She again asked me "What do you want?". Hahahahahahahahahahaha. That was really a terrible moment for me, when i could not decide if it would be proper to weep or laugh. I asked in a softer tone to her,"WHAT FLOOR IS THIS?". and her reply to that really burst me into a laughter. Her reply was ," THIS IS DUTY FREE SHOP FLOOR SIR". I could not stop myself laughing. Looking that her manager approached me. I asked him if he could show me the way to go to the 4th floor. The guy fortunately or unfortunately was a full professional one. He told me that it was a duty free shop, and if i want to ask something i must go to the customers services counter. I literally became speechless.

I looked around, and found out that the 4th floor was the administrative wing, and perhaps that was the reason why passengers were not allowed to go there, etc etc etc. Well that consoled me. I realised that i had had to find my way out myself without anybody's help. I started roaming around the floor. It  did not take much time to find a desk of Emirates. There were some people in the queues. I asked a person who had just left the counter, if it was the counter to get the Food Counter. He replied affirmatively. Interestingly, the counter did not have any broad sign on it like FOOD COUPONS there, so that one could find it easily. There was a small  framed card put upright on the counter mentioning that it was a Food Coupon counter. Obviously with twenty or thirty passengers rushing in lines before the counter, nobody can read that small card on the counter , from inside that huge building called Dubai International Airport.. It was not just i who was facing such a difficulty. While i was in the line, there were quite a few new passengers who were finding the food counter by asking passenger like myself in the queu, to get the Food Voucher from that counter.May be Emirates wanted to discourage passengers from getting the food vouchers and buy their food themselves..MAY BE

When ultimately i reached the counter, i was told that a passenger could get only one Food coupon, irrespective of the period of the transit. The guy on the counter showed me the printed instructions on the card on the counter. I never wanted to argue. I took the coupon.

I came up to my room on the 5th floor. Took a nice bath. Opened the television and jumped into the lovely bed. When a short period lapsed in that position i realised that i had not eaten anything. Oh No. But i was too lazy to come out of the bed , change the clothes, walk down the corridor, take the elevator, select one of the restaurants, eat and return back. No, no and no. I was not going for that.

I preferred to enjoy the bed. I saw two bottles filled with water on the table with an electric kettle, tea cups and tea and coffee packets. That was all that i could get. It was complimentary. So i drank two full cups of coffee, while surfing the television.

I slept for a big part of the night. It was a wonderful night in Dubai.

The Call service gave me a ring in the morning. As to my routine, i changed my clothes, and got myself relieved off the hotel. It was time for a lovely breakfast. I used my Food coupon to enjoy a much needed nice breakfast. There was quite a few hours left for my flight. I roamed around the shops. It was nice to read faces of innumerable passengers from innumerable countires, young and old, male and female, sick and healthy, but all having the sole goal in mind..........TO FLY OUT OF DUBAI. I too was one of them with the same goal in mind. My night in Dubai had ended, but with a difference.

Just a very small note here.
I went to the toilet on the Duty Free Floor of the airport (the far end one) and for the first time in my life (i accept i am not a frequent flyer) i saw people queued up for toilet. I personally felt, keeping in mind the innumerable number of passengers using the Dubai airport, they must increase the numbers of toilets on that floor.

NOTE: My next flight from Dubai to Istanbul (agaın Emirates) also took off late from Dubai. What led to the events afterwards are the subject matter of an another blog story.

Bye

1972 - FROM KARACHI TO ISTANBUL (4)

CONTINUED FROM ........ 1972 -FROM KARACHI TO ISTANBUL (3)

We woke up early in the morning. My father took me along and we came out of the hotel. The name of the area . which came to know later on, was Kadikoy.
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/asia/kadikoy.html

The jetty from where the ferry boats were going to the european side of Istanbul, was not much far from where we were. It was very cold. We had worn, coat and overcoat. I had worn the brown coloured  woolen cap too, that could have been extended down to cover the whole face except eyes and nose.  I remember it used to be called the monkey cap in those days. Interestingly, my father never wore a cap during his stay in Istanbul.


Well as we came out to the Ferry boat jetty, first of all we got confused about everything. I mean from where to buy the tickets? because we were not too good in counting the local currency. Then from where to enter the waiting lounge, etc. etc.

Well, we managed to board the first ferry boat. It was my first time to board such a boat. The cold wind was almost cutting our faces. The weather was all cloudy, so the sea was quite rough. Almost all of the passengers were sitting inside the sitting hall, but my father was more interested in experiencing the thrill of the moment. So we two were standing in open part of the ferry boat. The wind was hitting us on one hand and on the other the dripplets of uproaring waves were also coming our way. Aloof of all this, my father was too busy in enjoying the Bosphorous view.

After about half an hour we reached the other side of the Bosphorous. We stepped out on the european soil for the first time in our life. It was an important moment of my life. First i had come out of my country, and now i had left Asian continent behind. History was in the making.

The name of the Ferry boat station was EMINONU.


We had already marked everything on our map. We had had to catch a bus to go to Eyup. I was almost lost in the scene around. As compared to the place where i had spent the first 17 years of my life, it was all too different around me. I was trying to adjust myself to the totally changed atmosphere around me. The traffic was totally opposite to what we were used to in Pakistan. The dresses of the people, the skin colours, the voices around us, the scenery, etc etc, everything was grossly different.

Hurriedly we managed to board a bus. I was totally shocked by seeing the discipline at the bus stop. All busses were arrayed in their allotted portions. The boards on the waiting shelters were exhibiting the numbers of the buses for that particular point. The passengers were standing in line, and were boarding the buses one by one. Evey bus was moving on instantly after being full. The next bus in the lane was moving ahead to take in the remaining passengers. There was no shouting, no pushing, no cursing. Everything was going on in a very disciplined and organised way. For me it was a totally different world.

Every bus was having two automatic doors. Everybody was boarding the bus from the back door. The other door remained closed. Nobody was trying to force way inside the bus. The bus conductor, wearing a blue coloured suit, with matching tie, was sitting just by the side of the entrance door. Everybody was paying for the ticket, and moving ahead. It was a scene i had never witnessed before in my life.

Everything was shocking me. I was almost mesmerised.

In the bus some people tried to talk to us, but my father just managed to speak out a few words in turkish. He showed them the address of Erdal Soyulu. They understood that we were asking them to tell us where to get down of the bus. Where there is no language, even then there is a language that people understand. I was witnessing that.

There were no separate compartment for ladies in the bus. Women too were boarding and sitting inside the bus side by side with the men. Interestingly, nobody was pushing or teasing or trying to touch them. I was not used to this in Pakistan. I asked myself, why Turkish men do not touch women , even when they can, and why do Pakistani men like to touch women in public. when they cannot. I could not answer this.
I remember i was too embrassed just thinking about my feelings if a woman would come and sit by side in the bus. Being a Pakistani we could not even think of that. Perhaps this was why i was getting too nervous and excited, just by thinking of some turkish woman sitting by me in the bus, whereas there was no chance for that, because my father was going to sit by my side. There was no third chair.

I noticed that there was a red button just above the front door of the bus. A couple of minutes earlier before arrival of a bus stop, the bus driver used to ask if there was anybody to get down on that particular stop. He used to open the front door only if some passenger was to get down at that bus stop. Otherwise the door used to remain closed. However, there was a small red button above the door, which could be pressed to let the driver know about the passenger wanting to get off the bus.

All doors were opened and closed automatically . by the bus driver.

We got off the bus, at some bus stop, when told by the fellow passengers to get off. It was the area of Eyup.
Once on the road, we tried to ask people on the road to help us. It was drizzling and too cold.

1972 - FROM KARACHI TO ISTANBUL (3)

It was a nice and comfortable train. As far as i can remember, there were just two compartments, which were going to turkey. The rest of the compartments were supposed to go till the Iran/Turkey border. Most of them were supposed to go upto Tabrez only. Within these two particular compartments, most of the passengers were tourists. Those were the days of the Hippies. and a big number of the fellow passengers were Hippies. They were too dirty.


One of them was David. He was English. He was not a Hippie. He was a nice fellow who was on a world trip. He did have a sleeping bag, and used to sleep on floor in train in that. I had seen a sleeping bag for the first time, and i liked it, but ofcourse there was no way to ask him to lend me his. He was just having a rucksag with him. I was too amazed seeing him travelling like that. I was thrilled.

The train reached Tabrez at night. It was the last major city in the western part of Iran. Most of the compartments were cut off at that station. Perhaps a couple of tourists boarded in our compartment from Tabrez.

The Turkish/Iran border was crossed at early in the morning, the next day. When i woke up, the train had already stopped, just inside the Turkish territory. Outside i could see thumps of snow, here and there. It was terribly cold, but sunny. For the first time in my life i had seen snow .The Turkish officials were checking baggages. Almost all of our bags were opened and thoroughly checked. Our passports were stamped. We were officially in Turkey now.

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/photos/picture/6895067235/

I was thrilled because the last phase of the adventure was nearing.

I remember there was a sweeper in the train. In fact, i was too shocked to see a sweeper cleaning the whole compartment, twice a day. He was an employee of the Turkish Railways. My father tried to open dialogue with him. Our knowledge of turkish language was very limited. Even then , not through sentences, but through words he explained to the sweeper that we were going to Istanbul, and wanted to live there. But we were never in a position to understand what he used to say as his reply. He had written that on a piece of paper for us, but we could not decode that with the help of the books that we had then. Later on when we reached Istanbul and started understanding turkish a bit better, we understood what he used to ask us. What the sweeper had asked us was NE OLDU? (in turkish). It is a simple sentence which means WHAT HAPPENED? Thus he was asking us as to WHAT HAD HAPPENED THAT WE WERE GOING TO LIVE IN ISTANBUL. Unfortunately, we could not understand the question, for all the time that he remained in the train.

It was evening the same day, when we reached VAN. It is a beautiful city in eastern Turkey. There was a big lake by this city. The train was going to cross the lake. in a ferry boat. It was an unforgetable experience. The rails were till the side of the lake. The ferry boat was standing bound just in line with the rails. The rails on the land were just arraying with the rails inside the ferry boat. Slowly slowly the two compartments were pushed inside the ferry boat. We all passengers kept on sitting inside. The compartments were ultimately tied with iron chains. Once it was safe, we all came out of the compartments, and looked at the lake . It was a nice scene. The sun had already set, and it was dark.

I think it was a journey for about three or more hours. We reached the other end of the lake at around 9 pm. The compartments were once again pushed out of the ferry boat . the name of this end of the lake is TATVAN. The train continued its journey.

This is a present day video about how the train compartments have been loaded over the ferry boat while crossing the Van Lake.

We passed through Ankara early in the morning. It was all white. The snow fall had just started. It was soft. I loved to catch snow by taking my hand out of the window. My parents did not allow us to come out of the train at Ankara, because it was too slippery. But my father managed to go out and bring some eatables.

We were following the railway stations on our map. Not much distance was left to reach the ultimate destination.

We reached the station of  IZMIT. at evening. It was the last major railway station before Istanbul. Before that we had been through some very beautiful scenery, that i never forgot. Years later, i happened past through the same track (in 2004), and the whole scene of how we did pass through those mountains , 32 years, passed through my mind, as if i was watching the same movie once again.

It was getting dark. Istanbul was just at a distance of a few hour run from Izmit. Our parents started repacking our bags and luggages, which had become too untidy during this long train journey of around 3 days. Now i can feel the real sentiments of my father at that particular time. He must be very very thrilled. He was about to reach his destination. A goal , for which he had worked hard for around a year, and for which he had sold everything, is about to be achieved.  I remember i was too thrilled.

İZMİT RAIWAY STATION

The train continued heading towards Istanbul. It was almost plain . On one side was sea. But it was dark, cold and raining. Mentally we had started preparing ourselves for the life outside the train. It was going to be an another thrilling climax of the adventure.

I think it was perhaps 9 or 10 at night, when our train reached HAYDARPASHA RAILWAY STATION. It was the end of the Asian side of  Istanbul, in fact of Turkey. It was the last railway station. The train stopped and we came out of the . It was a huge building. We did not know where to go from there. I remember that we had put all our bag and baggage on flour, in a huge waiting room sort of place. The roof was too high. The pillars were huge. I felt myself somewhat coming under the grandeur of the building.

http://www.whereist.com/haydarpasa-train-station/


HAYDARPAŞA RAILWAY STATION



THE WAITING LOUNGE OF HAYDARPAŞA RAILWAY STATION ....THIS IS WHERE WE ALL SAT AFTER GETTING OFF THE TRAIN

Just out of the building, in front of us was sea. It was raining outside. There was a road passing across between the building and the sea. We did not know what to do next. I remember , we were all sitting on our baggage and it was too cold. My father was standing there. Almost all of the passengers of the train had gone away. We were alone in the room. My mother asked my father, "Where would we go now". Cool. as my father had always been. replied in a very relaxed tone of voice,"I DO NOT KNOW".

It was a scene and the dialogues that i never forgot. Interestingly, years later. in the year 1998. when i came to Northern Cyprus for the first time, with my wife and a year old son, my wife had also asked me the same question, after we had arrived at the Lefkosha city main entrance gate. Our baggage was just taken out of the bus. That was the last phase of our journey from Karachi to Lefkosha (North Cyprus). My wife had asked me the same question that my mother had asked my father 26 years ago. "Where will we go now", she had asked. I, as cool as my father was on that chilling November night at Haydarpasha Railway Station, 26 years ago. "I DO NOT KNOW", was my answer, because in fact just like my father who had never thought of what to do after reaching Istanbul. I had also never thought of thinking about my future in northern cyprus. Just like my father, i too had planned for reaching Northern Cyprus. What would be the next step, after reaching Istanbu /Northern Cyprus. My father had never cared about that, i too had not cared about that.

So he did not know what to do next, and 26 years later i too did not know what to do next.

Well, that night at the Haydarpasha Railway Station. my father took my elder brother along, and they went out of the building, and hired a taxi. The taxi driver took them to a nearby hotel. They returned back, and we all boarded the taxi, and reached the hotel, not very far from there. It was terribly cold.

Once in hotel, my father told me that next morning, i would be accompanying him to go out on the european side of Istanbul to find out the house of ERDAL SOYULU, the turkish guy who had given him his address months back in Karachi. His address was of Eyup quarter of Istanbul. It happened to be on the European side of Istanbul. We did know that for that we would have to cross the Bosphorus by a ferry boat. I was too excited, perhaps so was my father. My mother quickly arranged to eat whatever we did have with us. It was raining out, and none of us was in a position to go out to buy something to eat. It did not take much time for us to sleep, we were dead tired. Almost 15 days of hard adventurous travel had finally came to end. We slept.

CONTINUED ...... 1972 - FROM KARACHI TO ISTANBUL (4)

PHOTOS OF HISTORIC WALL OF ISTANBUL

Bu sitedeki arkadaşlara çok teşekkürler

http://istanbulium.blogspot.com/2011/12/istanbul-kara-surlar.html

İstanbul Kara Surları ve Sur Kapıları

Malum eski İstanbul'u çepeçevre saran surları bilmeyen yoktur. Hiç yakından görmeyenler bile en azından yoldan geçerken görmüşlerdir. Hele surlara yakın yaşayanların pek çoğu çocukluklarından kalan, surların üzerinde, çevresinde geçirdikleri anıları biriktirmişlerdir. Surlar genel olarak Marmara Surları, Haliç Surları ve Kara Surları şeklinde üç bölümde incelenmektedir. Kara surları da Tekfur Sarayı'ndan Haliç'e kadar olan kısım ayrı bir dönemden kaldığı yahut ön surları olmadığından ötürü olsa gerek, Blakherna surları olarak ayrı incelendiği de oluyor.

Zeytinburnu sahil tarafında Marmara Denizi kıyısından başlayan Kara Surları dahilindeki esas surlar 4,80 m. genişlikte, yaklaşık 11-14 m. yüksekliğinde  ve 50 ile 75 m. aralıklarda burçlarla donanmıştır. Bugün, Zeytinburnu sahilinde bulunan Mermer Kule'nin hemen orada, yolun kıyısında ilk burç bulunmakta, buradan başlayıp Tekfur Sarayı'na kadar toplam 96 adet burç var olup bunlar haritada da işaretlenmiştir. Tekfur Sarayı'ndan sonraki kara surları Blakherna bölgesine girmekte olup 20 burç vardır ve bunlar haritada ayrı renkte tanımlanmıştır. Yine bu surlar üzerinde bulunan kapılar da farklı renkte işaretlenmiştir.

View Kara Surları in a larger map

Esas surların yaklaşık 13.5 m. önünde yine benzerlik gösteren bir de ön surlar vardır. Esas surların 2 burcu ortasına gelecek şekilde ön surlarda bir burç bulunmaktadır. Ön surların önünde 14 metrelik bir alan ve bunun önünde 17.5 metrelik hendekler bulunmaktadır.

41. Burç önünde bugün bostan olarak kullanılan hendekler

Surlar üzerindeki burçların bir kısmı sağlam olarak gelmiş yahut sonradan restore edilmiş, bir kısmı sadece bir duvarlı, bir kısmı ise sadece temeli bulunur halde gelmiştir. Burçlar bulunduğu konumun topografik yapısı, surun dönüşleri dikkate alınarak dörtgen yahut çokgen olarak inşaa edilmiştir.

16-17-18-19-20. burçlar

Sur üzerinde yer alan kapılar, dönemin ana yollarının şehir dışına çıkış yolları ile bağlantılıdır. Kapıların her iki yanından burç bulunmaktadır.

Ayvansaray Surları

Sur kapıları aynı zamanda bulunduğu semtlere adını vermiştir. Bunlardan Top Kapısı ve Edirne Kapısı araç trafiğine kapalı sadece yayalar geçebilir, Sulu Kule Kapısı son gördüğümde civarın inşaat alanına dönmesinden ötürü yaya trafiğine de kapalı, Mevlevihane, Belgrat, Silivri kapıları ile Yedikule kapısı araç trafiğine açıktır. Altın Kapı ise Yedikule Hisarı'na bağlantılı olduğundan zaten geçiş yoktur. Haliç'e yakın olan Eğri Kapı araç trafiğine açıktır. Ayrıca sur duvarları üzerinde kapatılan kimi kapıların izlerini görebilmekteyiz.

Blakhernai Surları

Yakın zamanlarda doldurulan hendeklerde; esas surlar ile ön surlar arasında kalan bölgede özellikle Yedikule ve Mevlevihane Kapısı hattındaki kısımın kimi bölgeleri bostan olarak kullanılmakta, İstanbul halkının yediği yeşilliklerin üretimi devam etmektedir.

Yedikule Surlari ve Hendek

Ayrıca Fevzipaşa, Vatan ve Millet caddelerine yapılan bağlantılar nedeniyle bu bölümdeki surlar zamanında yıkılmıştır.

1. Burç ve 1. Askeri Kapı'nın hemen yanından sahil yolu geçiyor.

Surların kimi bölgelerinde üzerine çıkıp gezme imkânı bulunmakla birlikte dikkatli olmakta fayda var. Ayrıca bazı bölgelerde "balici" olarak tabir edilenlerin mesken edindiği yerler bulunmaktadır. Surların iç tarafı kimi yerlerde sur dibine yapılmış evler ve oluşturulmuş mahalleler nedeniyle de gezilememektedir.

Silivri Kapısı, Silivrikapı (Pege Kapısı, Gate of Spring) Fotoğrafları:

1894 sonrası Silivri Kapısı

Mevlevihane Kapısı, Mevlanakapı (Rhesium Kapısı, Gate of Region) Fotoğrafları:

19. yy sonunda Mevlevihane Kapısı

Mevlanakapı ya da Mevlevihane Kapısı

Mevlana Kapısı

Belgrat Kapısı, Belgratkapı (Ksilokerkos Kapısı, Gate of Belgrade) Fotoğrafları:

Yedikule Kapısı (Tabak Kapısı, Gate of Yedikule) Fotoğrafları:

Altın Kapı (Yaldızlı Kapı, Porta Aurea, Golden Gate) Fotoğrafları:

Nicholas V. Artamonoff, Haziran 1935

Nicholas V. Artamonoff, Haziran 1935

Top Kapısı, Topkapı (Romanus Kapısı, Cannon Gate) Fotoğrafları:

Top kapısı

Edirne Kapısı, Edirnekapı (Adrianopolis Kapısı, Adrianople Gate) Fotoğrafları:

Edirne Kapısı İç Duvardaki Detay

Sulukule Kapısı (5. Askeri Kapı, Örülü Kapı, Pempton Kapısı, Taer-Tower Gate) Fotoğrafları:

Sulukule Kapısı Dış Görünümü

Sulukule Kapısı İç Görünümü

5. Askeri Kapı; Nicholas V. Artamonoff, Aralık 1936

Eğri Kapı, Eğrikapı (Kaligaria Kapısı, Crooced Gate) Fotoğrafları:

Kara Surları ve Burçlarından Fotoğraflar:

62. Burç, Topkapı

57-58 burçlar arasında ön burç

62. burç Topkapı

56. Burç

48. burç ve duvarlar, Mevlanakapı

47-48. burç arası duvarlar yakın görünüm, Mevlanakapı

47. burç

37. burç Silivrikapı

41. burç duvarları ve bostanlar

28-29. burçlar arası, Silivrikapı

26. burç ve ön burç, duvarları, Belgratkapı

24 ve 25. burçlar, Belgratkapı

22 ve 23. burçlar, Belgratkapı

24. burç, ön burç ile esas burç arası, Belgratkapı

Ön burç, 18-17 ve 16. Burçlar

18. Burç

17. Burç

16. Burç

16-17-18-19-20. burçlar

14-15. burç arası

14. burç ve hendekler

Sur önünde çocuklar

78. burç, Sulukule

77. burç, Sulukule

Edirnekapı-Sulukule Arası Surlar

Edirnekapı Surları

71. Burç, Topkapı

69 ve 70. Burç, Topkapı

Edirnekapı Surları

Edirnekapı Sur Duvarı Üzerinden Detay

27. burç ve ön burçlar

29. Burç

29. Burç

24 ve 25. burçlar, Belgratkapı

27 ve 28. burçlar arasındaki ön burç

5. burç, Yedikule

6. Burç, Yedikule

4. Burç, Yedikule

6. Burç ve Ön Burç, Yedikule

4. Burç

86. Burç İçi, Edirnekapı

Ayvansaray Surları:

Kara Surları Eski Fotoğrafları:

Eğrikapı Tarafındaki Surlar, 1960 Senesi.

Yedikule

Yedikule Surları

Topkapı

Topkapı-Edirnekapı Arası Surlar

Eğrikapı Surları

Eğrikapı Surları

Anemas Zindanları, Nicholas V. Artamonoff, Ekim 1936

Ayvansaray

Ayvansaray-Edirnekapı Arası Surlar, 19. yy