CsomaBlog

The future is mapped out

My frame of mind lately could be described in one of two ways, depending on how generous you wanted to be.  You could call it research & planning, although it could equally be called fantasy.  Whatever it is, it stems from a huge amount of enthusiasm and the feeling that I could be getting closer to doing this journey.

Since reading Edward Fox’s The Hungarian Who Walked To Heaven, and discovering the Csoma’s Room Project (as reported my last entry), I’ve been on a bit of a Tibet kick, reading Patrick French’s wonderful history, travelogue and memoir all rolled into one, Tibet, Tibet and A Year in Tibet by Sun Shuyun, director of the documentary series of the same name that aired on the BBC a couple of years ago.

This morning my reading material was seemingly less relevant (Amin Maalouf’s quite superb The Crusades Through Arab Eyes), but talk of the Middle East, and Turkey in particular, reminded me of a suggestion from a friend of mine who will soon be living in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul.  He’d already put it to me that I should come and visit, and then dropped the bombshell that we could take a train to Tehran!

Of course I’m not one to shy away from some travelling, and my experience of the Middle East is so far restricted to just to Jordan, but it suddenly occurred to me that I could start Alexander’s journey.

This afternoon I’ve used all the information I’ve gathered so far to create a pretty comprehensive map of his route in Google Earth, my first since the very rough and incomplete one of 2007 that accompanies my first blog on the subject.

He never made it to Istanbul (what was then Constantinople) because of an outbreak of plague, but he did skirt parts of Turkey before a jaunt through the mediterranean to Egypt and Cyprus, then onwards through modern Lebanon, Syria, southern Turkey, Iraq before arriving in Tehran and staying for four months.

This is one section that causes me some problems.  At least he conveniently managed to miss out what is now Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but the 200-mile trip by boat from Mosul to Baghdad is probably not the safest right now, but we can hope for the future.   Indeed, mapping it out painstakingly with all the loops and meanders of the Tigris shows how daunting it must have been back then, let alone now.

This raises questions about how I am to make my film (for I am decided now that this jaunt will definitely be a film, primarily).  I’ve always considered this project to be “Following in the footsteps…” but not only am I going to have to make numerous trips, I’m also going to have to miss out sections because of safety concerns, but also those of budget and ease.  Do I therefore make a Michael Palin “Himalaya” style programme that just doesn’t mention the gaps and piecemeal approach, or do I make my own travelogue with Alexander as the reason for the trip, but the side-focus while on the trip?

What is certain is that if I am to do this trip, I have to take any opportunity I can to get as close as possible to Alexander’s destinations, and preferably his potential routes.  Taking a train from Istanbul (that he never visited) to Tehran misses a huge chunk that I’ll have to return to on another visit, but allows a wonderful opportunity to visit a major stopping-point on his journey.  And who could turn down the chance to take a train from the edges of Europe to the heart of the Middle East?

Welcome & News!

It’s nearly three years since I first came across, quite accidentally, the traveller, philologist and Tibetologist Alexander Csoma de Kőrös.  The original blog I wrote that week in September is now available here, although I must warn you that my grasp of the fact back then was somewhat loose!

In fact to this day I’m still learning and discovering new things.  I’ve recently been reading Edward Fox’s short but excellent book The Hungarian Who Walked To Heaven, and in tandem with Google Maps, Lonely Planet’s Hungary and whatever new hits come up on a Google search, I’ve been picking out significant locations from Alexander’s life.  From his home town in what is now Romania, to the location of his secondary education college, and the Zangla Monastery in Ladakh which contains the tiny room where his initial studies took place in 1823.

Which brings me to another great discovery, the Csoma’s Room project.  A group have been working hard to rebuild and restore the Zangla Palace, which has been left derelict for a number of years.  Since 2008 a group of volunteers have been working on the building using local materials, traditional methods and some local labor.  Those of us thousands of miles away can contribute towards the reconstruction and get our names engraved onto an adobe brick or a wooden beam.

So my research and writing on the subject continues.  In the last three years I’ve began working in filmmaking, gaining experience and expertise.  I now feel that I could start to make a film myself, perhaps beginning with a trip to the significant European locations.  Budget permitting of course!

In The Footsteps of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma

That is what I want to be.

Quite accidentally this week I discovered and quickly became obsessed with this incredible figure and his travels. He was born in Kőrös, Transylvania (modern Hungary) in 1784 and at the age of 35 set out on a journey to trace the origins of the Magyars, one of the many ethnic groups that make up that area of Eastern Europe.

By this point he had already travelled around Europe and studied languages in Germany. By the time of his great journey he was literate in 13 languages. 13! I pride myself in being adept at one, good at a second and with smatterings of various other languages.

I’m not sure how successful his journey was as far as its aim was concerned, however the distance covered and varied cultures and people encountered must surely make up for that.

From Hungary he travelled eastward to Constantinople (Istanbul) and from there on to Alexandria in Egypt, where he is soon forced to leave and so travels by ship via Cyprus and Beirut to arrive in Lataki in Syria. From there he continues on foot across Syria to Halab. Taking a caravan into what is now Iraq, Csoma arrived in Mosul and from there moved on to the capital Baghdad where he stays for 6 weeks as the guest of a Slovak.

More than 8 months into his journey, he arrives in Tehran the capital of Persia (Iran). Here he stays for several months, improving his English and Persian. In April 1821, travelling under a Turkish name, he arrives in Meshed near the modern border between Iran and Turkmenistan. Due to war he is forced to stay he for six months.

On 6th January 1822 he crosses the mighty Hindu Kush and reaches Kabul, capital of modern Afghanistan. From here he makes his way through modern Pakistan and India to the Tibetan town Leh, in Ladakh province. Here he meets a British man by the name of William Moorcroft who encourages him to learn Tibetan.

His journey continued, across India and Tibet to Calcutta, where he settled. Employed by the British, he devoted himself to Tibetan and compiled English-Tibetan and Tibetan-English dictionaries and wrote a book on Tibetan grammar with notes in 16 languages. These books are still in print today.

Leaving Calcutta in 1842 at the age of 58, Csoma set out in a northerly direction to again journey through Tibet, intending to study at the Dalai Lama’s library in Lhasa. Tragically he contracted malaria in Darjeeling and died, never to reach Tibet.

Mapping out his incredibly journey on Google Earth you can see the enormity of the voyage and can only imagine the hardships endured, but wonderful things experienced over the 22 years.

I dream of pitching to a production company to let me retrace Csoma’s journey, but for so many reasons the chances of success are slim. Imagine trying to convince someone to pay you and a production team to travel through Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, not to mention the difficulty of travelling through Tibet these days.

Well I continue to dream, and in the meantime try my best to find more on this incredible character.