THE DALAI LAMA SAYS...

“Once a year, go some place you've never been before.”

V | October 15, 2020

THE EDITOR'S NOTE

Greetings, fellow sojourners!

The fifth edition of Portmanteau! We extend our gratitude and thanks to those of you who have been supporting us from the start.
Our feature story this time is about an ancient library that belongs to a sacred cathederal in Egypt.
Our journey to find places that are improbable has taken us to South America to marvel at one of the world's greatest ancient treasures. If our previous edition's recipe had your senses tingling in pain, this edition will tempt the sweet tooth among you. Lastly, we talk about one of the most unique festivals that takes place in the Kingdom Of Happiness every year. Maybe you can attend!

Our Travel Record this month features a medley of jazz and blues music. The fifth edition of The Reel goes foreign and features 3 of cinema's most celebrated international hits. And our Thinking Owl seems to have returned from a trip to France...

We hope you enjoy the fifth edition of Portmanteau. And we always welcome stories or thoughts from you, our patron.

Sharing the mutual love for travel!
Ashish

STORIES

Ancient Egypt holds many secrets. A library with the New Testament is one of them.

WHAT YOU MISSED

Far up in the hills of Bhutan, the people celebrate in grand fashion, the life of a bird .

LET'S GET

Our young adult gives us a life lesson about letting precious things in life be.

INSPIRATION

In the vast reaches of the Guatemalen rainforest, there lies an ancient town of shock and wonder

THOUGHTS

Our Thinking Owl seems to have returned from a trip to France.

FOOD

The Turkish people are masters of this pistachio-laden pastry. Learn how you can make it yourself.

MUSIC

Some gems from the world of blues and jazz grace our Travel Record this month.

PUZZLED?

Puzzles to get your neurons firing.

01 Stories That Matter

A deep dive into a story that's arcane, thoughtful, and sometimes humorous!

In Ancient Egypt, there lies a library of secrets.

The 12th Century St Catherine Monastery

The great pyramids capture your awe when in Egypt and rightly so. But this ancient cradle of civilization has its hidden secrets. A 1500-year-old monastery at the foot of the sacred Sinai mountain is one among them. It lays claim to many titles, oldest-continuously-used library, a citadel monastery, Christian bastion in the Islamic heartland and more.

After a glorious couple of centuries of patronage, Saint Catherine’s Monastery fell on hard times with the rise of Islam. Facing isolation and persecution, the monks here had to resort to an austere life, building a fortress around themselves and making do with what little they had, braving an inflicted quarantine that has lasted for centuries.

Such parsimony spawned many interesting things, one among them being the palimpsests. As the monks ran out of parchment, they started to erase the old parchments of now-forgotten languages to rewrite on them the same legends in the popular tongue. Saint Catherine’s has one of the largest collections of such palimpsests.

Unknowingly this very erasing has conserved in ephemeral signatures the secrets of these old languages. Today, with the help of advanced optics and scanning technology, these languages are being resurrected. Caucasian Albanian, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, a mix of Syriac and Greek are some of the languages lost for centuries that are again being read.

Languages are intangible culture, and every effort should be made to preserve them. We are also facing an erosion of languages at a pace never before seen, as English rides the tide of globalisation. Maybe a pilgrimage to Saint Catherine’s Monastery will drive home the imperativeness and motivation to preserve our own.

02 What You Missed When Grounded

The Land Of The Thunder Dragon celebrates the spirit of a special bird, every November.

The Black Necked Crane Festival

A snippet about an annual Bhutanese tradition

Illustration by Karl Martens

Every year as the winter falls, residents of Bhutan travel from across the country to Phobjikha Valley. They gather in the courtyard of a certain monastery, and wait with bated breath for something to begin. Then, at the sound of a resounding gong, the festivities begin. Dancers decked in black bird suits begin an impressive display, and it is then you realize you are witnessing the Black Necked Crane Festival, one of Bhutan’s most celebrated events.

As the name suggests, this festival commemorates the Black Necked Crane: One of the world’s rarest species of birds with only 8000 odd individuals residing in high altitude regions. The cranes are special in more than one way. They are monogamous, staying with one single partner their entire lives. They also fly long distances on their local migratory routes during summers and reach altitudes higher than the already enormous 4850m above sea level.

Perhaps it’s for these reasons and more that the Bhutanese and a range of other cultures revere these birds. In Bhutanese culture, they are seen as a sign of longevity. Spotting one when starting a trip or undertaking a new venture is said to be good luck, but even otherwise, the birds are granted special protection both legally and in the hearts of the people. In 2008, Bhutan chose to construct an underground power grid as opposed to power lines so that the birds could construct nests in peace.

The festival itself is a grand spectacle over the course of 24 hours. Every year, the locals celebrate the arrival of the black necked cranes in Bhutan with song, dance and dresses in the shape of the revered being.

This year’s Black Necked Crane Festival takes place during November. Consider this event an excuse to book those tickets to Bhutan, maybe!

03 Let's Get Comical

Our young adult gives us a life lesson about letting precious things in life be.

04 The Reel

The fifth edition of the reel goes completely foreign. We discuss 3 of the world's most critically acclaimed foreign films. Spanish, Turkish and Japanese. Don't worry, all of them come with subtitles so you don't miss out on the dialogue!

From the award winning Alfonso Cuaron comes a monochromatic masterpiece that highlights what life in 1970 Mexico was like for the earning class. The story highlights a lot of vital elements of the time, such as class disparity, the clashes between students and their universities, how feminism was rained down upon.

The story revolves around Cleo, the maid of a rich household. Her understanding of the world provides an essential context to the underlying theme of the movie. From the get go, the director’s decision to shoot entirely in monochrome also adds a significant element of nuance to the whole movie. Roma is not a lighthearted movie, but it is an essential watch, and a beautiful one at that thanks to the visionary of Alfonso Cuaron.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

If you’re an admirer of felines, there’s a certain middle Eastern city in the world that just might be the place for you. Kedi is a Turkish documentary that tells the story of Istanbul’s camaraderie with cats. The city’s affinity for these furry friends has existed since ancient times. Kedi means cat in Turkish, and this documentary follows the lives of 10 cats in particular, each with their own special story.

The lives of their caretakers play an essential part as well. From the humble fisherman who makes sure his kittens get a portion of his catch every day to the fashion model who is subjected to prejudice and patriarchy and finds solace in her feline companioKedi is about Istanbul’s cats, but it’s also about so much more.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE RED

Seven Samurai is one of Japan’s most celebrated films from one of the world’s most revolutionary directors, Akira Kurosawa. A tale of bravery, violence, betrayal and heroism. The film may seem long, but it’s definitely engaging. And divided into 2 parts for those who can’t consume the entire movie at once. The main premise of the story is that a small helpless village employs the help of 7 samurais that do not follow a master (they are known as ronin). The village is also poor, and can only offer food in return for protection.

The village head manages to find an aged ronin, who then enlists the help of his fellow samurais (one of whom may not be who he says he is). From there, the samurais slowly build trust with the villagers. The movie continues into one of the best sagas of the cinematic universe, with Kurosawa’s famed cinematography taking center stage.

WATCH ON CRITERION

05 Improbable Places

Hidden away in the rainforests of South America is a mythical land that was once prosperous and thriving. Read more about Tikal, the famed ancient ruins in Guatemala.

Tikal, the famed
ancient ruins in Guatemala

3000 years ago in the midst of the South American rainforests, there was paradise. One of the most powerful kingdoms of the Mayan Empire. The city that was named after its ruler, Yax Ehb Xook. Today, we know it as Yax Mutal, or Tikal: One of the most remote and ancient remnants of Mayan civilization!

Located in the expansive Maya Biosphere Reserve, the ruins of Tikal are a testament to ancient ingenuity and technological prowess, even though the earliest signs of civilization there were symbols of humble agriculture. From there things started to build up. Stone temples, houses and administrative centers began to pick up. At the peak of the town’s history, nearly 90,000 inhabitants were thought to have resided here.

In a mere 6 mile radius, nearly 3000 ancient ruins have been unearthed at the turn of the 20th century. Most of the monuments and ruins have been left intact, another tribute that makes them special. The grandest of them that has made internet galleries and mainstream media everywhere is the Grand Plaza. A 10 acre area with the popular Tikal 1 Temple.

This vast metropolis has seen many an emperor as well: 33 monarchs whose lineage can be traced to 1AD. Yax Ehb Xook was the first. Little is known about them, however. But we do know about a later successor, Chak Tok Ich’aak. His name translates to Jaguar Paw, an honorary title considering the place of the Jaguar in Mayan lore. It is said that he was responsible for most of the constructions around the area, including the main plaza. Alas, Tikal soon went into warfare for the better part of the next few centuries. And then as if seemingly into thin air, the inhabitants of this grand city vanished.

Today, Tikal is accessible to travellers looking for the lost secrets of the Mayan civilization. There are still pieces of history being unearthed. Venture out to this improbable land, and you may just find something yourself.

06 The Thinking Owl

"Leave me alone. J'ai d'autres chats a fouetter!"

"I have other cats to whip!", meaning our owl is currently occupied with other things in life.

07 Food for Thought

From the annals of ancient Turkey and Greece there comes a dish for those that prefer the sweeter things in life

Baklava

For your next dinner party, bake up this sweet and easy to make delicacy and bedazzle all of your friends.

If you ever travel to Turkey or Greece, chances are you’ll walk into a pastry shop that sells dozens of sticky sweet squares. You always wonder about biting into one the first time, and there’s no stopping you once you do. There are fewer sweets as addictive as baklava!

Not to be confused with the headgear, baklava is a rich sweet preparation.The main component of baklava is a generous heap of pistachios. These are what give the baklava that signature flavor.

the recipe...

The Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
1 pound chopped nuts
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water

Sweeteners:

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.