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October 11, 2013 Friday
A piece of Multan in Baku
KARACHI
It is an unsettling feeling I have - a feeling of embarking on a new
mental journey, a feeling of re-understanding history. But I cannot
find the right vehicle that will take me where I want to go. Where do
the roots of this feeling lie? In Baku.
See, Baku was supposed to be just another historical city I would
visit. A place to put down my backpack for a few days, discover ways
to reach points of interest, find places to eat, visit a few
historical sites and then move on to the next destination. Even though
I did leave Baku after staying there for three days, Baku refuses to
leave my imagination.
Azerbaijan does not make it easy for the tourists to visit her.
Besides the exorbitant visa fees, the bureaucratic hurdles you need to
overcome to get a tourist visa include confirming your hotel stay in
Azerbaijan, with particular hotels the Azerbaijani bureaucracy likes.
Facing these challenges, many tourists just give up the idea of
travelling to the only Muslim country of Caucasus. Yet, how can your
trip to Caucasus be complete without visiting Azerbaijan, the largest
country of the region?
Our trip of Caucasus had started out in Turkey. After visiting Armenia
we were in Tbilisi; we decided to apply for the Azerbaijani visas.
When you visit that region and you are travelling overland you have to
understand who is not getting along with whom.
Armenia has a long border with Turkey but the border is sealed - going
from Turkey to Armenia, you have to first go to Georgia that gets
along well with the other two neighbours. Armenian genocide in Ottoman
Turkey is fresh in the minds of Armenians, but Turkey refuses to call
Armenian mass killings in the Ottoman period genocide. Acrimonious
relations exist between Azerbaijan and Armenia as well; once again
Georgia (or Iran in south) is the neutral country to go through in
order to travel between the other two.
To us visiting Caucasus was important in many ways: people associating
themselves with that geographical region - calling themselves
Caucasians - have defined the concept of races.
Caucasus is important for northern South Asia because our folklore has
many references to Koh-e-Qaf, the legendary place of `beautiful' women
and tall men. Those stories came to South Asia, along with invaders
from the north - story-tellers of Iran had made Caucasus such a
mythological region.
After giving our passports to the Azerbaijan embassy in Tbilisi, we
travelled to Kazbegi (also known as Stepantsminda), a town near the
Georgia-Russia border. Kazbegi with its small population is trying to
redefine itself from a small pastoral town to now a tourist attraction
where foreigners come to climb mountains, and visit glaciers and
waterfalls. Kazbegi is laid back, with regular shows of farmers
herding their cows through the town - a gentle smell of cow manure
permeates the air.
A visit to the museum in Kazbegi makes one realise how strongly people
in the Old World associate themselves with the region they live in;
even a small country modernly defined in the nation-state narrative
can be teeming with ethnically diverse people.
Kazbegi Museum featured historical documents, and arts and crafts of
the Kazbegi area, as the area existed fairly independent of its
surroundings for hundreds of years.
By the time we came back to Tbilisi, our passports were ready with
Azerbaijani visas. Hooray! We already had the Iranian visas. Now with
the Azerbaijani visas in our passports we could take a circuitous
route to Istanbul travelling south in Azerbaijan and then entering
Iran.
Next day we left for Azerbaijan.
At the border our passports were checked to see which countries we had
visited earlier and on spotting the Armenian stamp, the Azerbaijani
immigration office said out loud with disappointment, `Ar-me-nia!!' as
in, `Why the hell did you go to Armenia?' He then showed the Armenian
stamps in our passports to his colleague who just happened to stop by
his desk.
We did not say a word and kept forced smiles on our faces. We stood
there with patience till we got our passports back with Azerbaijani
entry stamps in them. On reaching Zaqatala, the van driver stopped in
the city centre, pointed to the bus station and said `Sheki' - that's
where we needed to go to catch a bus to Sheki.
Our stay at the historical Karvansarayi Hotel in Sheki was a time to
relax. The highlight of our visit was enjoying Sheki's famous halva
that very much lived up to its fame. Sheki halva is a scrumptious
dessert made of flour, milk, nuts, eggs, and sugary syrup, with
saffron lines on top.
Our travel guidebook said Azerbaijan cannot be firmly placed either in
Europe or Asia. We did not see it that way. Azerbaijan was very much a
Middle Eastern country to us. If you go by the faces you see on the
streets in Azerbaijan, you may think you are in Jordan or Syria. Every
prayer time, the atmosphere is filled with azans. And people eat
roasted seeds like they do in all Middle Eastern countries.
Azerbaijani language was once written in Arabic letters. After
Azerbaijan joined the Soviet Union, the script became Cyrillic. And
now, after the collapse of the Union, Azerbaijani is written in the
same letters used in modern Turkish.
A couple of days later we were in Baku. When in Tbilisi we had met a
German woman who had been to Azerbaijan. She thought Azerbaijan was
putting all its wealth in its capital - she was pointing to the
phenomenon of uneven development in the country.
Travelling from Sheki to Baku, we found that assertion to be true.
Baku not only had better infrastructure, it appeared more modern than
other parts of the country we had visited. Uneven development in a
country sets off internal migration from lesser developed areas to
more privileged places. No wonder Baku is home to more than 20 per
cent of the Azerbaijani population.
The continuing influx also means that Baku is an expensive city to
visit. To find a place that would fit our budget we had to settle for
a hotel some distance away from the Old City; we would take the metro
to reach the tourist attractions.
It was another such day of exploration in the Azerbaijani capital. The
hot afternoon in Baku was relenting to a mild evening. Soft lights
from lampposts had started covering the cobblestoned streets and
affluent tourists were taking seats in pimped-up outdoor restaurants.
I was looking at the curious shape of the Maiden Tower when I came
across a sign that pointed to the `Multani Caravanserai'.
Caravanserais - temporary abodes of ancient trade caravans - there
were many in Azerbaijan, but why Multani? What did it have to do with
our Multan? I followed the signs and after passing through a narrow
passageway reached two stone buildings that had restored exteriors:
one was Bukhara Caravanserai, the other one was Multani Caravanserai.
I was told the Multani Caravanserai was built in the 15th century and
was the resting place for traders coming from Multan. Presently, a
restaurant by the name of `Karvansarayi' occupies both buildings that
face each other.
We were allowed to go down in the Multani Caravanserai to soak in the
history of the place. Multani Caravanserai's basement with its vaulted
ceilings appeared to be the original construction.
This is where businessmen from Multan stayed during their stay in
Baku. One of the basement walls was adorned with photos of eminent
visitors of the historical building. A photo of Pervez Musharraf with
his entourage was one of them. Also present in a glass display case
were artifacts given as gift by the Pakistani Embassy in Baku.
A floodgate of thoughts opened up in my mind. The trade caravans in
the ancient times must have had to travel around 2,000 miles going
from Multan to Baku. With a maximum speed of 20 miles a day it would
take 100 days to cover that distance. Did the trade caravans leaving
Multan - with stopovers in between - reach Baku in six months? From
Multan did they first travel north to Kabul, then East to Mashhad and
finally reaching the southern point of Caspian; and from there they
just went along the coast to Lankaran and then onwards to Baku?
Trade caravans were the main connections between towns of antiquity.
That is how students reached the centres of learning they wanted to go
to. All the holy men landing in Multan too must have come with those
trade caravans. Ideas and technologies too must have travelled that
way.
Maritime activity over long hauls being a dangerous proposition till
around the 17th century, the ancient trade routes were mostly
overland. South Asia was connected to Central Asia and Eurasia through
these trade routes. The British came to our region through the sea;
their domination of South Asia changed the trade patterns of this
area. Even after the end of the colonial era, our region could not
re-establish its vibrant historic trade connection with the landmass
north of it.
I also nurtured thoughts about the power of ancient trade centres. Why
was Multan so important? Its location by the Chenab River is vital,
but did the Suraj Mandir with its awe-inspiring idols too elevate
Multan's status?
How were the ancient trade routes formed? Little trade connections
must have merged together to form routes that were thousands of miles
long. And who decided when would a trade caravan leave a place? Who
were those caravan leaders and what were their skillsets? How large
were the caravans? What merchandise would they carry with them? Were
there armed men with each caravan? Coming out of the Multani
Caravanserai I could see silk, spices, grains, and perfumes, all
loaded up on mules present outside the caravanserai.
But my questions needed good, authentic answers.
I searched for books describing the ancient trade routes of our area.
One that would take me on a trade caravan, going from Multan to Baku;
another one that would describe in great detail things that were
traded in those days; a third one about a Multani's observations along
the way and in Baku. But such books do not exist.
More than sixty years after coming out of the colonial rule, our
historians still look at the West for researching topics that are and
should be of great interest to us.
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2013-weekly/nos-06-10-2013/foo.htm
October 11, 2013 Friday
A piece of Multan in Baku
KARACHI
It is an unsettling feeling I have - a feeling of embarking on a new
mental journey, a feeling of re-understanding history. But I cannot
find the right vehicle that will take me where I want to go. Where do
the roots of this feeling lie? In Baku.
See, Baku was supposed to be just another historical city I would
visit. A place to put down my backpack for a few days, discover ways
to reach points of interest, find places to eat, visit a few
historical sites and then move on to the next destination. Even though
I did leave Baku after staying there for three days, Baku refuses to
leave my imagination.
Azerbaijan does not make it easy for the tourists to visit her.
Besides the exorbitant visa fees, the bureaucratic hurdles you need to
overcome to get a tourist visa include confirming your hotel stay in
Azerbaijan, with particular hotels the Azerbaijani bureaucracy likes.
Facing these challenges, many tourists just give up the idea of
travelling to the only Muslim country of Caucasus. Yet, how can your
trip to Caucasus be complete without visiting Azerbaijan, the largest
country of the region?
Our trip of Caucasus had started out in Turkey. After visiting Armenia
we were in Tbilisi; we decided to apply for the Azerbaijani visas.
When you visit that region and you are travelling overland you have to
understand who is not getting along with whom.
Armenia has a long border with Turkey but the border is sealed - going
from Turkey to Armenia, you have to first go to Georgia that gets
along well with the other two neighbours. Armenian genocide in Ottoman
Turkey is fresh in the minds of Armenians, but Turkey refuses to call
Armenian mass killings in the Ottoman period genocide. Acrimonious
relations exist between Azerbaijan and Armenia as well; once again
Georgia (or Iran in south) is the neutral country to go through in
order to travel between the other two.
To us visiting Caucasus was important in many ways: people associating
themselves with that geographical region - calling themselves
Caucasians - have defined the concept of races.
Caucasus is important for northern South Asia because our folklore has
many references to Koh-e-Qaf, the legendary place of `beautiful' women
and tall men. Those stories came to South Asia, along with invaders
from the north - story-tellers of Iran had made Caucasus such a
mythological region.
After giving our passports to the Azerbaijan embassy in Tbilisi, we
travelled to Kazbegi (also known as Stepantsminda), a town near the
Georgia-Russia border. Kazbegi with its small population is trying to
redefine itself from a small pastoral town to now a tourist attraction
where foreigners come to climb mountains, and visit glaciers and
waterfalls. Kazbegi is laid back, with regular shows of farmers
herding their cows through the town - a gentle smell of cow manure
permeates the air.
A visit to the museum in Kazbegi makes one realise how strongly people
in the Old World associate themselves with the region they live in;
even a small country modernly defined in the nation-state narrative
can be teeming with ethnically diverse people.
Kazbegi Museum featured historical documents, and arts and crafts of
the Kazbegi area, as the area existed fairly independent of its
surroundings for hundreds of years.
By the time we came back to Tbilisi, our passports were ready with
Azerbaijani visas. Hooray! We already had the Iranian visas. Now with
the Azerbaijani visas in our passports we could take a circuitous
route to Istanbul travelling south in Azerbaijan and then entering
Iran.
Next day we left for Azerbaijan.
At the border our passports were checked to see which countries we had
visited earlier and on spotting the Armenian stamp, the Azerbaijani
immigration office said out loud with disappointment, `Ar-me-nia!!' as
in, `Why the hell did you go to Armenia?' He then showed the Armenian
stamps in our passports to his colleague who just happened to stop by
his desk.
We did not say a word and kept forced smiles on our faces. We stood
there with patience till we got our passports back with Azerbaijani
entry stamps in them. On reaching Zaqatala, the van driver stopped in
the city centre, pointed to the bus station and said `Sheki' - that's
where we needed to go to catch a bus to Sheki.
Our stay at the historical Karvansarayi Hotel in Sheki was a time to
relax. The highlight of our visit was enjoying Sheki's famous halva
that very much lived up to its fame. Sheki halva is a scrumptious
dessert made of flour, milk, nuts, eggs, and sugary syrup, with
saffron lines on top.
Our travel guidebook said Azerbaijan cannot be firmly placed either in
Europe or Asia. We did not see it that way. Azerbaijan was very much a
Middle Eastern country to us. If you go by the faces you see on the
streets in Azerbaijan, you may think you are in Jordan or Syria. Every
prayer time, the atmosphere is filled with azans. And people eat
roasted seeds like they do in all Middle Eastern countries.
Azerbaijani language was once written in Arabic letters. After
Azerbaijan joined the Soviet Union, the script became Cyrillic. And
now, after the collapse of the Union, Azerbaijani is written in the
same letters used in modern Turkish.
A couple of days later we were in Baku. When in Tbilisi we had met a
German woman who had been to Azerbaijan. She thought Azerbaijan was
putting all its wealth in its capital - she was pointing to the
phenomenon of uneven development in the country.
Travelling from Sheki to Baku, we found that assertion to be true.
Baku not only had better infrastructure, it appeared more modern than
other parts of the country we had visited. Uneven development in a
country sets off internal migration from lesser developed areas to
more privileged places. No wonder Baku is home to more than 20 per
cent of the Azerbaijani population.
The continuing influx also means that Baku is an expensive city to
visit. To find a place that would fit our budget we had to settle for
a hotel some distance away from the Old City; we would take the metro
to reach the tourist attractions.
It was another such day of exploration in the Azerbaijani capital. The
hot afternoon in Baku was relenting to a mild evening. Soft lights
from lampposts had started covering the cobblestoned streets and
affluent tourists were taking seats in pimped-up outdoor restaurants.
I was looking at the curious shape of the Maiden Tower when I came
across a sign that pointed to the `Multani Caravanserai'.
Caravanserais - temporary abodes of ancient trade caravans - there
were many in Azerbaijan, but why Multani? What did it have to do with
our Multan? I followed the signs and after passing through a narrow
passageway reached two stone buildings that had restored exteriors:
one was Bukhara Caravanserai, the other one was Multani Caravanserai.
I was told the Multani Caravanserai was built in the 15th century and
was the resting place for traders coming from Multan. Presently, a
restaurant by the name of `Karvansarayi' occupies both buildings that
face each other.
We were allowed to go down in the Multani Caravanserai to soak in the
history of the place. Multani Caravanserai's basement with its vaulted
ceilings appeared to be the original construction.
This is where businessmen from Multan stayed during their stay in
Baku. One of the basement walls was adorned with photos of eminent
visitors of the historical building. A photo of Pervez Musharraf with
his entourage was one of them. Also present in a glass display case
were artifacts given as gift by the Pakistani Embassy in Baku.
A floodgate of thoughts opened up in my mind. The trade caravans in
the ancient times must have had to travel around 2,000 miles going
from Multan to Baku. With a maximum speed of 20 miles a day it would
take 100 days to cover that distance. Did the trade caravans leaving
Multan - with stopovers in between - reach Baku in six months? From
Multan did they first travel north to Kabul, then East to Mashhad and
finally reaching the southern point of Caspian; and from there they
just went along the coast to Lankaran and then onwards to Baku?
Trade caravans were the main connections between towns of antiquity.
That is how students reached the centres of learning they wanted to go
to. All the holy men landing in Multan too must have come with those
trade caravans. Ideas and technologies too must have travelled that
way.
Maritime activity over long hauls being a dangerous proposition till
around the 17th century, the ancient trade routes were mostly
overland. South Asia was connected to Central Asia and Eurasia through
these trade routes. The British came to our region through the sea;
their domination of South Asia changed the trade patterns of this
area. Even after the end of the colonial era, our region could not
re-establish its vibrant historic trade connection with the landmass
north of it.
I also nurtured thoughts about the power of ancient trade centres. Why
was Multan so important? Its location by the Chenab River is vital,
but did the Suraj Mandir with its awe-inspiring idols too elevate
Multan's status?
How were the ancient trade routes formed? Little trade connections
must have merged together to form routes that were thousands of miles
long. And who decided when would a trade caravan leave a place? Who
were those caravan leaders and what were their skillsets? How large
were the caravans? What merchandise would they carry with them? Were
there armed men with each caravan? Coming out of the Multani
Caravanserai I could see silk, spices, grains, and perfumes, all
loaded up on mules present outside the caravanserai.
But my questions needed good, authentic answers.
I searched for books describing the ancient trade routes of our area.
One that would take me on a trade caravan, going from Multan to Baku;
another one that would describe in great detail things that were
traded in those days; a third one about a Multani's observations along
the way and in Baku. But such books do not exist.
More than sixty years after coming out of the colonial rule, our
historians still look at the West for researching topics that are and
should be of great interest to us.
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2013-weekly/nos-06-10-2013/foo.htm