by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Mount Carmel
By Prashant Sood,
Tel Aviv : How about visiting a beautiful beach along the Mediterranean Sea, walking on layers of history stretching back to over 2,000 years, and dropping in on one of the most diverse organic farms in the world? All in a day?
It is possible to pack one’s day with vast possibilities in Israel, a country rich in culture and history — and one that is geographically compact and yet has a varied topography. The excellent transport infrastructure also ensures easy and fast travel.
We started our day with a quick visit to the organic farm of Mizpe Hayamim, a hotel in northern Israel that can be a role-model for the farm-to-table concept. Spread over a vast area, the organic farm has flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, livestock and a dairy.
The farm provides fresh seasonal produce for the hotel’s vegetarian restaurant and meets almost all its needs. Apart from boutique cheeses, liqueur, jams, unique blends of coffee, home-made pastries and sweets, even soaps are produced on the farm.
The farm is on a hillock and reflects the enterprise and determination that have turned the seemingly barren land into a fertile asset, attracting people from all parts of the world.
Mizpe Hayamim is close to the Sea of Galilee and views of the vast expanse around were amazing. The expansive views continued as we travelled to Zichron Ya’akov, a quaint town on Mount Carmel, founded in 1882 by 100 Jewish pioneers who returned to their Biblical homeland from Romania.
The main shopping street at Zichron Ya’akov is on a slight incline, making the walk a pleasure. It is lined with cafes, small shops and old buildings. After having a sumptuous lunch at a Baronita restaurant, located on a pedestrian street, we headed for the ancient port city of Caesarea, a fascinating place steeped in history that transports you back in time by centuries.
The Caesarea National Park has remains of many periods and the attractions include Roman theatre, hippodrome, sea-shore promenade, the crusader gate and the magnificent port.
The city, rebuilt by Herod the Great in 22-10 BCE, is a treasure trove for any student of history and archaeology. While we took a quick tour, an entire day can be spent here discovering its chequered past — which also saw it emerge as a major port of trade between the Roman empire and Asia.
It did not take long to reach Tel Aviv from Caesarea and the city impressed with its neatness and vertical architecture. The modern, cosmopolitan city with several avenues of shopping and a thriving nightlife also has the highest number of high-tech companies per capita in the world. Located on the eastern Mediterranean coastline, Tel Aviv has captivating beaches.
We took Segways, the two-wheeled electric vehicle, to explore the beach promenade, and it was an unforgettable treat.
Moving along on the big wheels in gentle breeze, the Segway tour presented different views of the waves, the sea, the setting sun and the elegant shops on the beach side. It is not difficult to use Segway and all it requires is a bit of practice under watchful eye of an expert.
Tel Aviv can be the base to visit some other destinations in Israel, including Jerusalem and Haifa.
The coastal city of Haifa has a sense of tranquility about it and the Baha’i World Centre and Hanging Gardens — a Unesco World Heritage Site — immensely add to its quiet charm. There are quite a few places to explore nearby. We went to Derech Hatavlinim Herb and Spice Farm and it was a model for agri-tourism. The farm attracts about 150,000 people from all parts of the world annually. The farm, with a visitor centre in the fields, offers about 600 varieties of species and hundreds of varieties of blends and now has shops in different parts of the world.
Jeruslam, 66 km southeast of Tel Aviv, is a perennial attraction and our visit to Israel would have been incomplete without a look-in at its Old City. The Church of Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall and the Dome of Rock are a few minutes walk from one another.
The Old City Train — a cute little green and yellow road-train — makes it easy and interesting to go through the Old City to the Western Wall.
(Prashant Sood was in Israel on the invitation of its Ministry of Tourism. He can be reached at prashant.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
New Delhi : Read an intensely human and deeply political account of the Sikh riots; learn to value life from an autistic man; relive the extraordinary life story of emperor Ashoka; and know about the horrors of partition from people who inhabit the land through which these lines run.
IANS bookshelf offers a bunch of interesting reads this weekend.
1. Book: The Year of the Hawks; Author: Kanwaljit Deol; Publisher: Speaking Tiger; Pages: 283; Price: Rs 350
The early 1980s: A fiery preacher has outgrown his mentors and is raising an army of radicalised young men across Punjab. In Moranwale village, young Fareed is emerging from adolescence, uncertain about his future in an increasingly divided and violent society, where neither love nor hope can survive. In Delhi, Sikand, a journalist approaching middle age, struggles to keep a grip on his life even as news from the land of his childhood becomes alarming.
As terror spreads through Punjab, Fareed and Sikand find themselves in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, among armed men primed for a holy war. The two men are on opposite sides — one has joined the militants, the other will take no sides. But after the Indian Army storms the holy shrine of the Sikhs, their fates are twinned, perhaps for a lifetime.
Kanwaljit Deol’s gripping debut novel is a work of rare power and sophistication, intensely human and deeply political.
2. Book: Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8; Author: Naoki Higashida; Publisher: Sceptre; Pages: 273; Price: Rs 499.
In this book, Naoki Higashida shares his thoughts and experiences as a 24-year-old man living each day with severe autism.
Higashida explores school memories, family relationships, the exhilaration of travel, and the difficulties of speech. He also allows readers to experience profound moments we take for granted.
Acutely aware of how strange his behaviour can appear to others, he aims throughout to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage society to see people with disabilities as people, not as problems.
With an introduction by novelist David Mitchell, “Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8” also includes a dreamlike short story Higashida wrote, especially for this edition. Both moving and of practical use, the book opens a window into the mind of an inspiring young man who meets every challenge with tenacity and good humour. However often he falls down, he always gets back up.
3. Book: Ashoka, Satrap of Taxila; Author: Ashok K. Banker; Publisher: Westland; Pages: 179; Price: Rs 299
He can battle any enemy except his own family.
Ashoka has been dispatched to accompany his brother Sushim to Taxila. But when he sees the brutality and disrespect to Mauryavansh by the Pashtun rebels, he cannot stay silent. His sword is as quick as his temper, and the result is swift and bloody justice. Taxila is saved but the emperor is furious.
Emperor Bindusara, egged on by his favourite queen, Noor Khorasan, becomes convinced that Ashoka’s show of initiative is an act of treason. Even the wise words of nonagenarian Kautilya, emerging from retirement, fall on deaf ears. Queen Khorasan’s well-mounted plot to control the empire sweeps up everyone who opposes her. Suddenly, Ashoka is forced to choose between his mother’s life and his own. What will the young prince do?
The author brings alive the battles, brutality, lust and politics of ancient India in vivid detail with thrilling action.
4. Book: Gazing At Neighbours; Author: Bishwanath Ghosh; Publisher: Tranquebar; Pages: 347; Price: Rs 399
In July 1947, British barrister Cyril Radcliffe was summoned to New Delhi and given five weeks to draw, on the map of the subcontinent, two zigzagged lines that would decide the future of one-fifth of the human race.
One line, 553 kilometres long, created the province of West Punjab; the other, adding up to 4,096 kilometres, carved out a province called East Bengal. Both territories joined the new-born nation of Pakistan — an event called the Partition of India, which saw one million people being butchered and another 15 million uprooted from their homes.
Enough and more has been written about the horrors of Partition, but what of the people who inhabit the land through which these lines run?
Curiosity leads the author into journeying along the Radcliffe Line through the vibrant greenery of Punjab as well as the more melancholic landscape of the states surrounding Bangladesh and examining, first hand, life on the border.
—IANS
