The Forty First Rule of Love

In 2014, when I stumbled upon the masterpiece of Elif Shafek’s “The Forty Rules of Love”, I was mesmerized by the strange yet magnetic personality of Shams of Tabriz and the embodiment of love Rumi, like millions. However, what attracted me the most was Konya and that book evoked in me a strange yet sudden desire to visit Konya.

Fast forward to 2018, I was planning my honeymoon to Türkiye. During discussions with my travel agent, names of popular tourist destinations for honeymoon came up, like, Istanbul, Antalya, Cappadocia, etc. There was no hint of Konya, as it was out of route of popular travel itineraries and held little interest for lovebirds on honeymoon. I tried hard to squeeze Konya into my itinerary but was talked out of it by my travel agent due to obvious reasons.

It was Feb 2019, and I and my wife were in the town of Goreme, Cappadocia. Enjoying our stay here, we did ride a hot air balloon, a wonderful experience. We also took day trips to valleys and underground cities situated in the valley. The stay in Cappadocia was very romantic and peaceful. One fine evening we were walking back to our beautiful cave hotel suite after having the most delicious dish we had eaten in Turkey “Pottery Kebab”. We passed a local bus station and a ticket booth.

A noticeboard in Turkish caught my attention at the ticket booth. I can’t speak or read or understand Turkish but I could at that moment make out, that, the notice board was related to the timings of routine buses from Cappadocia to Konya.

I stopped for inquiries at the ticket booth and asked the official about the rates, timings, and the time taken by the bus from here to Konya. I was surprised to learn that it took approx. 3 hours and the rates of the local bus were very cheap and affordable.

I turned back and started walking, my wife asked me about the inquiries I made and I told her that it was about the bus ride to Konya and how I always wanted to visit Konya and how I couldn’t plan for it due to the nature of the trip and how I dropped the idea of visiting, out of fear that she won’t find it romantic.

To my utter surprise and delight, she pushed me to book the tickets for Konya at that very moment and made me cancel all the trips planned for the next day in Cappadocia.

I had my trip meticulously planned and everything until that moment was going perfectly. This sudden calling of Konya, made me reschedule many things including our stay and the flight from Kayseri to Istanbul. But inwardly, I was bursting with unknown joy.

We took our scrumptious Turkish breakfast in our Hotel and headed towards the local bus station to board our 8:30 bus to Konya. The bus was very clean and was not so “local”. After the usual activity of passengers at the start of the trip, a quiet peace ensued which made us all sleep. I don’t know how long I slept, but my better half woke me up at a service station and we stretched our legs and answered nature’s call. The service station was all quiet and clean and unlike the touristy places we had been accustomed to in Turkey, we didn’t see any foreigners. Locals were all around us with no hint of English. It was nice to get a taste of real Türkiye.

We arrived in the holy city and disembarked at the main bus terminal. From there we took a taxi to our destination, which needed no directions, “Mevlana Museum”.

An elegant and enticing building welcomed us.

I am not able to find words to share my feelings. My head was bowed out of respect and my heart, my heart was so at peace. We were not talking to each other and were slowly walking towards the entrance.

After entering the museum, we were offered an audio guide to help us understand the museum.

The tomb was surrounded by a lush green park, no soul was in a hurry. There was no noise of chatter as common with areas visited by tourists, there was no running or laughing. Everyone around us was consumed with the love, which Rumi had in abundance.

As we made our way to the entrance of the tomb I was startled to see the entrance (the title photo). I stayed there for some 20 minutes, thinking of how to enter with respect and love in the audience of the great man.

My wife, meanwhile googled the couplet written on the door and told me its translation:

This place has become the Kabaah for the lovers of God, those who came here incomplete are now perfected

Taking strength from the couplet, I walked inside and told my wife that we would separate here and take individual tours and would meet outside, once we were done.

I don’t know when I started crying, but I did, the aura was so peaceful, so somber and so lovely, and yet so powerful that I couldn’t hold myself back, I cried and prayed for all the lovers and their loved ones, and I strolled around. Paid my respects to the great man and his family and disciples, who were buried there, and then stumbled upon some secluded praying area inside the tomb. I prayed there and cried and prayed and cried. I don’t know why I was crying, I was on a honeymoon, but I did.

I didn’t want to leave but had to, we met outside and she smiled and said, “Are you happy now?”

And I just looked at her and gently hugged her, I wanted to say “I love you more than anything, and thank you for making me come here” but there was no need of words, i think she understood.

We slowly strolled back and then like hands in gloves explored other attractions of Konya and brought back the memories and the 41st rule of love, which is:

Paying a visit to Rumi is a MUST-DO THING, if you visit the magical Türkiye.