Istanbul, we love you.. It was the last day and we had only one plan, to meet my old friends Fatma Zehra and Ali. We packed our luggages, checked out and went under the rain to visit the lovely couple in their apartment. Ali met us in Üsküdar and we went together to the the apartment. It was cozy and had a very peaceful energy. Meeting them both was a very emotional moment for me. Fatma Zehra was my classmate in the Master program in Italy and Ali, her husband, was with her in the city. We often met there for cooking, hanging out, and playing football (where I also broke my cruciate ligament). Some people stay always very close to your heart no matter how often you meet. They were definitely these people. We dove into various conversations about life and spirituality and I was happy to see that Christina and Merve got along with the new friends. The Brunch table was full of various sorts of delicacies and I remembered the joke often shared by Diljit about marrying Jessica vs. marrying Fatima (in this case literally)!
A few hours of lovely peaceful time. Including a short visit to a nice mosque in the neighbourhood and then a visit to a kind of Ottoman cafe where they try to revive ottoman traditions in drinks and pastries. They then bid us farewell and we aimed to the hotel and then to the airport.
Turkish airlines flew us from Istanbul to Delhi then we took another flight to Amritsar. We slept or tried to sleep most of the flights. At the customs and transfer, everything was smooth and without problems. Indians are verrrry friendly. They always greet you heartily and smile at you widely.
In the airport, we met Gourpreet, our driver who obviously does not speak English. He knows a few words like “Sad” to describe a sad song pointing at his heart with the thumb.. well.. I guess that was it.. I don’t remember any other words he said in English. Sometimes we were not sure if is checking Christina and Merve in the inside mirror. So we had a secret deal to pretend that they are both my wives so that he does not hit on any of them. You know, I am Muslim, so it is ok ok..
In two hours we arrived to the hotel where we are to stay for the next few days.. Here will start our Indian Chapter (well, it already started since I write these words behind schedule.. and it is much fun so far.. and less sleep!).
