I travel a fair bit. My wife will call that an under-statement and a travelling salesman will call it an exaggeration. I do travel a fair bit, though.

Turkey has always been a country I have wanted to visit. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the builder of modern Turkey, has been a childhood hero. I have read tomes and tomes on him and his selfless endeavour to build a modern Turkey that is as international a player as any in today’s competitive dog-eat-dog world.

Turkey meant a lot of things before I landed there. Turkish coffee, for a start. The Blue Mosque with its very unique mosaic. The Bosphorous. Turkish halwa.

I landed at the Istanbul airport and was stunned to the gills. The airport was a stunner. Absolutely modern and competing with the best of airports I have been through — seamless in its service and totally modern in its immigration facility. A courteous welcome to the country of Kemal Ataturk.

My drive from the airport to the Hilton was as seamless as ever. I passed through a city that was modern and ancient at the same time. The turrets and pillars of Old Istanbul mingled with the chrome and glass of the modern city. The Bosphorous breaks it all up into a nice and surreal setting. There is every colour to enjoy here — colours from the old, and colours from the new.

When I land for a talk, the first thing on my mind is the talk. And this was an important one with all of 4,500 delegates from all over the world wanting to listen to the story of India and its rapid progress. My fellow speaker came from Brazil, a very distinguished gentleman the world knows as Pele!

I checked into the hotel and wanted to rush up to the roof-top instantly. I wanted a view of the city. I love doing this whenever I visit a city for the first time. I like getting an aerial

view first.

A bird’s-eye view normally tells it all.

The view from the 25th floor was absolutely stunning. The Blue Bosphorous winding its way around what is divided as Asia and Europe. Everything was laid out here like on the three-dimensional Monopoly boardgame of Istanbul.

Roll the first set of dice and you are ready to start. I was in a city rich and laden with a hoary history. Apart from my history books and the writings of Kemal Ataturk, I had one more guide who made this journey that much more real and exciting for me. Orhan Pamuk!

I kept rolling the dice all through the next day after my talk. I sat to hear Pele speak, and then I ran into the gut of the city of Istanbul.

The city is bounded by two seas, the Black Sea on one side and the Sea of Marmara on the other. You can see the difference in the colour of the waters. The city is quite spread out. You reach some of it by sea, some by railroad, by tram and on foot. I did most of mine by walking.

I did a Bosphorous tour on a boat as well — something to do when tired of all the walking. On this Monopoly board, the sights pass by you and you get a dog’s-eye-view of the city in many ways. You get to see it all, from the outside. You hope you will one day see it from the inside. Such is the plight of us rushed travellers.

Istanbul has old markets that sell spice, carpet and tea. The Turkish Hamams, that help you relax as and when you want, are ubiquitous as ever. The palaces, the mosques and the museums are all over. Even if I do a hundred talks in Turkey, I will not be able see it all of them.

But I want to. Insha’allah!