Nasuh Mahruki (Hurriyet Pazar) | February 11, 2001
I am sure that for many of you the name Necdet Sen would come familiar. Carrying no mask and having a philosophical attitude of his own, he is a heartbroken, unprogrammatic man saying that he is a man with no mission, who only reflect what he feels. He resembles the HIZLI Gazeteci, which he created and published in Cumhuriyet and Hurriyet some 20 years ago, in character but not in appearance. Weary looking, sulky, though sensitive and emotional man with a lot of questions about life in his head.
My friendship with Necdet Sen goes back to years we worked in the same newspaper. I had always been a hot pursuer of his daily comic strip and his books. But, the thought that we would float on the roads of Asia in a similar mood never slipped into my mind at that very late afternoon we met by chance on the corridor of Hurriyet.
I had a chance to witness what he has been going through for the past four years. He is one of the very few voluminous writer I admire so much. Like most of his friends who did not quite understand him I dared to tell him that he should not have turned his back to his readers.
This isolation and flee was not good for him. On the contrary he continued his serene, quite and peaceful wait. Most beautiful part of this long wait is that it seems to come naturally to him. When he believed that he reached the maturity to some extent he dropped in the world of internet like a ripe, sweet smelling fruit, which is tastier than ever before.
There is no doubt that the return of this touchy, little big man pleases at most his readers, who have been missing and waiting for him with loyalty and belief. Those are the readers who have not been contaminated by the illness of forgetting what our era cannot see, replacing what is lost quickly with something else, giving up on searching or not carrying at all. When I was a young man I was impressed mostly by the sense of responsibility, sensibility, the open and frank way of speaking, and the humaneness of this anti hero, who questions the rights and the wrongs and put a fight for what he believes in, even though he is exposed to get hurt easily.
After a long break, when met again in internet our yearning came to the end. We recalled the good old days and had a long delightful conversation. As what Albert Camus said "traveling bring us back to our true selves". Although we had different starting points, we set out for India and Nepal with similar reasons such as to flee from an artificial life, to seek for our true selves.
After months passes by, thousands of miles away from Turkey, leaving what we have lived behind we met in front of a kiosk in Pushkar, Rajastan. He had already been in the pipeline, which would bring him to where he has been today. And he had already perceived the fact that life is the time running away when we are trying to program it.
We resemble in some shtmlects but, I am not yet ready to take that bold step to begin my internal journey. I have always been aware that I will never give such a radical decision in rejecting the success, the future and the modernity. I will not be able to get ready for this in near future. I know this fact as well as I know that I am on my way that will lead me to my true self. It was his choice to lend an ear to Little Neco inside him and to distance himself from everything that filled his life and stole his time. During this time of silence and purification he found the answers to some of his questions that he asked himself: "Who I am, Where I am going to, what this rush is for". You can read some part of this peculiar journey from his book "NEREYE?" published in internet.
KEEP A LOW PROFILE
According to Epicures, the more powerful a man gets the more foes and rivals he gains. Even though he could refrain from such an unfortunate fate with using his mind and power it would not be possible for him to live a peaceful life. For this reason wise man would keep a low profile in order to live in tranquility and avoid to make foes.
I assume when the time is ripe I will change my route to that direction but, till then I will fight against all the dragons get on my way, climb all the mountains that are said to be unreachable, and break through all the barriers that are said to be impossible.
Who is Nasuh Mahruki?
He is a famous Turkish mountaineer who climbed to Everest, K2 and other highest peaks of the earth. He is also honoured as "Snow Leopard" because he was climbed five highest peaks of Soviet Union. He is now the chairman of AKUT (Turkish Rescue Team for victims of disasters).
Translated by Camay Ozalp
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