To Newspaper or not?

 Rajasthan has a funny climate. It is so hot and dry in summer that I can make sub-dried tomatoes in just one afternoon. But sometimes, for short periods, it pours. When it pours at night, my first action in the morning is to check the drains for clogs. Else, the water collects there and everything around them which can soak up water, will do so. 

One such casualty is my newspaper. Happened again today morning. I tried separating the pages to dry them under the fan (they tend to stick together when they are wet) but I only got 10 torn pages. The soaked newspapers just turned to damp fragile mass. So I decided to use more intense method, Iron. I realised that if I dry one side of the paper the other side is still wet. And when I turn over to iron the other side, the first side soaks up as much moisture as possible from the other side. So ironing a newspaper is an iterative process. First side, second side, first side again, second side again....

Well, one mystery was solved by this exercise, " Why Jeeves ( in PG Woodhouse novels) irons the newspapers. In a country which is wet most of the year, very likely he is regularly in the same situation as me. It must have therefore become a ritual... makes sense. The crackle of the dry ( or dried) newspaper is often enough incentive for my cat to attack it. Must be working to get the lords out of their morning slumber. Very useful!

Pondering upon the uses of a newspaper in an Indian household... no I don't need them to get my lord husband out of bed; he is usually the one who wakes up the whole household ( and neighbourhood!) even after the kids flew the coop. During the pandemic when the newspapers were not being delivered, the most unhappy person was my maid. I had often seen her, in past, sneaking out a bundle of old newspapers while leave for the day. If she happened to come across me at that time she sheepishly explained that they were to line the shelves in her house. Any why just hers, Newspapers have been the primary choice of shelf/ drawer liners throughout my childhood. 

Another regular use of newspapers during my school days was the "under-cover" covers for the books... yes under-covers. The top cover was brown with the school logo and label. To provide strength to the top cover ( brown cover costs, old newspaper is free) there was an undercover. I still find under-covers of newspapers in some of my old books. Glossy paper like those from magazines / Calendars were preferred, but those were rarely available at that time; newspapers were the vanilla variety. 

I have often used a rolled up newspaper to whack a truant child, lots of noise but very little physical damage. These days I use them to make sewing patterns, noting down a telephone number or grocery list on the margins. My sister used to line the kitchen table top with newspapers daily while cooking and bin it after she was finished. No cleaning required. I reach for the newspaper if I spill anything...reaching for the kitchen paper is not preferred, after all kitchen paper costs and old newspaper is free, and newspaper is faster if you don't mind the black ink marks. I have often smacked the flies or shooed away a stray larger flying varieties ( birds). If there is any still left after my maid takes her share, they are collected and sold at a princely sun of 20 Rs / kg. That almost pays for 20% of my monthly newspaper bill. 

Now-a-days when online news is invading us at all times of the day, newspapers have the old world charm. Only those who enjoy their morning cuppa with them can appreciate that itself is worth the price. I, for one, am not cancelling my subscriptions for a long time to come.  

Physics: TeDx Talk at St.X Mumbai

 

Ephesus: The Port City?

 

Our next stop was Kusadasi, a port city south of Izmir. Kusadasi was our base for visiting the two Greek / Roman ancient cities of Ephesus and Hieropolis and of course the beautiful terraces of Pammukale. Ephesus was just inland from Kusadasi, we took a city taxi to go there.

The region around Ephesus has been populated since 3000 BC, by Hittites who had ruled parts of lower Egypt for a short time.  It became famous as a port city which was earlier ruled by Greeks and than by Romans.  Yet, it was a few kilometers inland. The whole area between Ephesus and the sea was actually a bay with the Menderes river flowing into it. Over time, the silt carried by the river swamped the bay. The whole city had to be moved closer to the unblocked part of the bay to keep the port for trading.

Being a prosperous port city with a population of about 250 thousand, it was coveted by many kingdoms.  Many earthquakes and invasions had weakened the city, but it rose again, and again. Romans took control of the city in 140 BC and even made it the capital of Asia minor. Over the years, when the port was blocked again due to silt, they dredged a canal through to enable ships could come up to the city. Ultimately, the port was completely blocked and Ephesus was abandoned. Ever practical Romans stripped much of the city to use the stones elsewhere. The hippodrome vanished completely in the process, yet much still remains to make the ancient city of Ephesus very interesting.

We took a taxi to the upper gate of the ancient city since that is at a higher level, making it easier for us to walk down. No queues here! Most of the group tours were  people from the cruise with "organised" tours, leaving the windows free for walk-in tourists. Great!

Even 2000 years back, this city had piped water flowing into the houses, obviously the houses of the prosperous people, but the concept existed. The ruins have both Greek and Roman influences. I assume that the more decorated column capitals are Greek and the more practical ones are Roman :).  The most remarkable site in Ephesus is the terrace houses. They are houses which were meant for the wealthy. They had indoor plumbing ( terracotta pipes are existing at the junction of walls) and some of the most beautiful mosaics. It was not easy for our old knees to climb all the scaffolding to the top, but the lovely mosaics on the floor of these houses kept us going. These houses are still being excavated.... here are some mosaic photographs.

Besides the huge stadium, Ephesus had a vibrant market which dealt in the goods that came by the sea, a library attributed to Celcus ( Greek period)  which today only has a two level facade with lovely statues of Greek Goddess. There are other interesting sites like the temple of Hardin, the Odeon where the administrators of the city met, public latrines and ruins of a pleasure house.

We visited the temple of Artemis (the patron goddess of the city since ancient times also respected by the Greeks) the last.  In course of time, it was destroyed multiple times but was rebuilt better each time. The last one built was considered one of the ancient wonders of world. 

 

 

 

Today, just a lone column made by piling random pieces, is standing at the site of the temple. Most of the marble structures were used to make St.John church a few kilometers away. On the top of that column was a mighty nest of a migratory stork. "Four chicks", the only guide cum photographer there told us very proudly. Artemis was the local goddess of fertility after all :-), and the replica as a statue can be seen in the picture on the right.

 

Cappadocia: The fairy land

 

Cappadocia is a surreal land. The bizarre natural formations appear to be a part of an elaborate setup.

Apparently,  a few million years ago the whole area was covered with volcanic ash (which compacted to make a soft stone called tuff) and this was topped by a thin lava layer which cooled to formed the hard basalt. When the basalt cracked, the softer tuff was eroded by water and air resulting in these odd look mushroom stalk/ hoodoo / fairy chimneys.

 

We loved this beautiful landscape creation of the eccentricity of nature which people had embraced as a part of their daily life. We were staying in Uchisar which is famous for a whole castle (Uchisar castle) dug out of tuff.

Tourists can opt for horse back or quad riding, get photographed in a love seat, flowing clothes or camel back.  A balloon ride with areal view of the fairy chimneys should be worth getting up at 3a.m.  Sadly, we missed the balloon ride due to bad weather. 

Here is a photographs of the flying balloons the next day while we were on our way to the airport 😒.

 

 

 

One of the most wondrous sites is Kaymakli underground city.  This was humankind taking full advantage of their natural resources to get an out-of-the-box solution for their housing problem. The caves were dug into the soft stone tuff.  One may wonder the reasons for digging up a whole multi-level city.  It could be claustrophobic for many ---- the walls were looking frail and not very confidence inspiring. A visit to the city makes it clear that the residents of this place were very keen to keep there whereabouts hidden ( from whom?). The entrance is small and could be locked by rolling a hard rock in front of it. 

For air-circulation, horizontal shafts open in vertical shafts which go down to the water level (ensuring water supply to the cave dwellers) and from the top one just sees the well! 

The kitchen (has an atta-chakki like the one I still have) and forges are in the innermost part of the caves to hide their presence. The larder, animal caves indicate that these were not very long term measures, but not just a few days either. There are multiple such caves cities in this region with an indication that some of these might be connected to each other. Why would the top of the food chain humans decide to go subterranean? Was the climate outside these caves too harsh to survive? Did they do it to escape the invaders? 

Some fairy chimneys near Goreme were dug out to make churches and are about as old as Hagia Sofia of Istanbul. They still have very colourful frescoes.