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Zaatar Days, Henna Nights:
Adventures, Dreams and Destinations
across the
Middle East by Maliha
Masood
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Maliha
Masood moved to Seattle,
Washington with her parents when
she was 12 years old. After
college, she took a job in Seattle's
booming dot-com industry, but several
years of working behind a
desk left her
desperate for a change of scene.
What to do?
She bought a one-way ticket
to the Mideast.
Compelled to explore her Islamic
roots as well
as satisfy her wanderlust,
Maliha embarked upon a year-long
overland
trek, from
the streets of Cairo,
Beirut, Damascus,
and of course Turkey—but
hardly on the beaten track.
She landed in Cappadocia after a long
bus ride from Syria, and was soon on
the road for points even farther east:
mysterious Nemrut
Dagi, for one.
Her
name and her passport, filled with
stamps from Arab countries, almost
got her into trouble with the law
in this area that's sensitive to foreigners
who don't seem to be tourists or
engineers,
but luck was on her side. Soon she
was on her way westward to Konya to pay her respects to Rumi.
Her passport and money stolen by another
backpacker in Kas,
she makes her way to Bursa on
a pilgrimage to the first
capital of the Ottoman
Empire, and
finally arrives in Istanbul.
Her experiences there are far, far
from those of a
normal tourist, and reveal an in-depth
portrait of Turkish cosmopolitan society.
Zaatar Days,
Henna Nights offers
a street-savvy take on the
contempory Muslim world seldom seen
on the
evening
news. This is a story of
discovery and faith, of making bonds
and breaking
sterotypes, and of finding
oneself where one least expects to.
A graduate
of the Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts
University,
Maliha (mah-LEE-hah) has worked
internationally in
human rights policy and
conflict
resolution.
She's also an emerging
playwright and
the founding director of
Diwaan,
an Islamic cultural institute.
Want to know how Turkey fits
into the modern Mideast?
Ms Masood's intriguing book is a
good place to start.
Zaatar Days, Henna Nights:
Adventures, Dreams and Destinations
across the Middle East by Maliha
Masood
Emeryville CA: Seal Press (Avalon Publishing
Group), 2006
ISBN
978-1-58005-192-7, 299 pages, US$15.95
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