Simitle Çay

Simitle Çay

Bu başlığa kaşar peynirini de eklemek isterdim ama onun çayla simidin dostluğu karşısında silinip ikinci planda kalması daha doğru. Çünkü çayla simidi beraber bulduğumuz günler eksik değil, ama üçünü bir arada bulmak?.. Belki çayı da simitten ayırmak doğruydu. Yalnız simitten, sabahın o leziz, insan icadı yemişinden söz açmalıydım. Ama ne yaparsın, çaya kıyamadım. Simidin yanında o da ikinci planda kalıyor ama dostlukları da samimi bir dostluktur. Hiçbir kahvaltı simitle çayın yerini tutamaz. Ballı, reçelli, tereyağlı, hatta pamplımuslu kahvaltıların sonunda sokağa bir otomobille çıkmayan insan varsa kızılır öylesine. Bu çeşit kahvaltıdan sonra ayaklarınız ıslanmadan otomobile atlamalısınız. Yine ayakkabılarınız çamurlanmadan maroken koltuklu bir yazıhanede telefonu ele alıp:

- Dün, akşam söylediğim gibi. On para aşağı olmaz.

Tak telefonu kapamalı, tekrar açmalı:

- Borsadan ne haber? Yetmiş altı, yirmi mi? Satma, bekle. Efendim bekle diyorum sana. Elbet bir bildiğim var benim de. Yetmiş yediye de vermem. Seksenden on para aşağı olmaz. Peki bekliyorum. Öğleye kadar telefon edilmezse sözümden cayabilirim. Unutulmamalı... demeli.

Ama çayı simitle içtikten sonra sokağın çamuruna karışır, dişlerimizde hâlâ susam kırıntıları oradan oraya koşabiliriz. Sokakta yağmur yağar, alnımızdan ter damlar. Dişlerimizde susam tanesi, çayın kokusu hala burnumuzdadır. Ah, bir akşam olsa, kağıt yığınları önümüzden bir eksilse, bir yatağımıza uzansak, ayaklarımız bir dinlense... Oh! Yine sabah oldu bak! Acem Hasan Efendi çayı demlemiştir. Şu abullabut simitçi de nerde kaldı? Allah belanı versin! Gelir, akşamki simidi dayar. Gelmez çayın tadı kaçar.

Yeniden İstanbul sokakları. Memursanız evrak, muharrirseniz mevzu, işçi iseniz tarak, işsizseniz park...

Her şey, içinizi delik deşik eden yağmurlu günün içine sinmiş çay kokusu, dişlerinizdeki susam tanesi ile tadını alır, ilk adımını atar.

İşte şimdi kaşar peynirine sıra geldi. O gün keyfimiz yerinde uyandık. Cebimize bir baktık ki olur şey değil! Bir yirmi beşlik feda edebileceğiz.

- Aman bana yirmi beş kuruşluk kaşar peyniri! Eski olsun n'olur?

İşte o zaman harikulade bir ziyafet sofrası kahvenin mermerindedir.

Sarı, bakkal kağıdında yatan bu sarışın şey nedir? Kaşar peyniri midir, kat kat baklava, telkadayıf mıdır? Yoksa şehvetle uzanmış bir kadın mıdır? İşte koparmaya kıyamadığımız yumuşak, taze iki simit. İşte Acem Hasan Efendi'nin ince belli, kırmızı benekli çay fincanı.

İşte susamın kırıntıları! Doldurun avucunuza masanın mermerinden elinizin kenarıyla! Atın ağzınıza! Sonra kibrit kutusunun kapağından ufak bir parça koparın! Dişlerinizin arasındaki susamları ayıklayarak mesut işinize gidin!

Sabahın büyük ziyafeti bitmiştir. Bir cıgara yakabiliriz şimdi.

sait faik abasıyanık.Yedigün, (45), 22 Ocak 1949

SUGGESTED TRANSLATION 1

SIMIT and TEA (SESAME RINGS and TEA)

1. 
   I would like to have added Balkan cheese to this title, but it is more appropriate for it to be left in the background, in response to the closeness of tea and simit.
   

2. 
   Because, there are a lot of days when we can find simit and tea together, but what about a chance of finding the three together?
   

3. 
   Perhaps, it was appropriate to separate tea from simit as well. I should have mentioned only simit, the manmade delicious food of morning.
   

4. 
   But what can I do? I couldn’t spare tea.
   

5. 
   Compared with simit; it too is left in the background, but their friendship is of close relation.
   

6. 
   No other breakfast can take the place of simit and tea.
   

7. 
   One would get angry at a man who, after a breakfast with honey, jam, butter and even grapefruit, goes out without a car.
   

8. 
   After such a breakfast, one should jump into a car without his feet wet.
   

9. 
   And again, without one getting his shoes muddy, one should sit in an office with a Moroccan armchair and pick up the telephone and say:
   

“As I said last night. Not a penny less!” Then he should hang up the phone and call again saying:

“How about the stock exchange? Is it 76.20? Do not sell it, wait. Sir, I said “wait”. Of course, there is something I know. No, I won’t sell it for 77, either. Not even a penny less than 80. Okay, I’m waiting. If there is no phone call until noon, I may change my mind. It shouldn’t be forgotten…”

10. 
    But after drinking tea with sesame rings, we step into the mud on the street and we run from one place to another with sesame crumbs still between our teeth.
    

11. 
    It rains outside, sweat drips from our forehead. Sesame crumbs between our teeth, the smell of the tea is still on our mind.
    

12. 
    If only it were night and these heaps of papers in front of us decreased. If only we could lie down in our beds and our legs could rest…
    

13. 
    See! It’s morning again. Persian Hasan Efendi must have steeped the tea. Where the hell is that silly sesame rings seller? God damn him! He’ll come and sell the sesame rings of the previous night or if he does not come, the tea will lose its taste.
    

14. 
    The streets of Istanbul again. If you are a government employee, your files; if a writer, your topics; if a laborer, your ………, if an unemployed, the park …
    

COMB RAKE DREDGER

15. 
    Everything begins and has taste with the sesame crumbs between your teeth and the smell of tea that had permeated into the rainy day which makes you soaking wet.
    

16. 
    And now it’s time for the Balkan cheese. That day we woke up feeling merry. Then reaching into our pockets, we found something unbelievable. We are able to sacrifice 25 pennies.
    

17. 
    - For Godness’s sake! Please give me Balkan cheese worth 25 pennies. The old type please!
    

It’s only then when there is a marvelous feast on the marble table of the coffee shop.

18. 
    What is this blonde thing lying on the yellow grocer paper?
    

19. 
    Is it Balkan cheese or layers of Baklava or strings of Kadayif?
    

20. 
    Or is it a woman reclining lustfully?
    

21. 
    Here are two fresh and soft sesame rings that we cannot spare to break apart.
    

22. 
    Here is Persian Hasan Efendi’s slim-waisted and red-dotted tea cup.
    

23. 
    Here are the sesame crumbs! Fill your palm with them by sweeping them off the marble table with the side of your other hand!
    

24. 
    Throw them into your mouth!
    

25. 
    Then tear a small piece of the cover of the match-box!
    

26. 
    Picking the crumbs between your teeth, go to your work feeling happy!
    

27. 
    The great feast of the morning is over. Now, we can light a cigarette!
    

SUGGESTED TRANSLATION 2


Simit with Tea - A short story by Sait Faik Abasiyanik
I would’ve liked to add “aged cheese” to this heading but it is better that I don’t, because next to the companionship of simit and tea, it fades away to the background. We do have days when we have both simit and tea but the three of them? Maybe I should’ve separated tea from simit too. Only simit, that delicious man made fruit of the morning should have been my topic. But what can you do?

I couldn’t bear to leave out the tea. Although tea is secondary to simit, their companionship nevertheless is a genuine one. No breakfast can take the place of simit with tea! If a person eats a breakfast of butter, preserves, honey and even grapefruit but doesn’t leave his house in a car, one should get upset with him. After a breakfast like that, you must hop into a car without getting your shoes wet. Sitting in your fancy office chair without any mud on your shoes you must start a phone call:

-“Just like I said last night. Not a dime less.” You must hang up the phone and start
another call:

- “How is the stock market? Did you say 76.20 ? Don’t sell, wait. I am telling you to wait. Obviously I know something. I won’t sell for 77 either. Not a dime less than 80. OK I am waiting. If I don’t hear from you by noon, I may change my mind. Mark my words….” You must say.

However, after drinking tea with simit, we can walk on the muddy streets and with sesame seeds still between our teeth, we can run from place to place. It rains as we run, sweat drips down our foreheads. With sesame seeds between our teeth, we can still smell the morning tea. When will the day end? When will we finish the pile of paper in front of us and lay down in our beds and get some rest? See, it is morning again! Acem Hasan Efendi must have brewed the tea. Where is this dimwitted simit seller? He comes and sells us the simit from yesterday, or he doesn’t come and the tea loses its taste.

Once again, on the streets of Istanbul. If you are a clerk, papers, if you are a writer, stories, if you are a worker, looms and if you are without a job, parks wait for you.

Everything finds its taste and takes its first step with the smell of the tea infused in you and the sesame seed between your teeth on a day when the rain is going through you.

Now it is time for the aged cheese: Suppose that we got up in the morning in a good mood. We checked our pockets and saw that we could sacrifice a twenty-five.

-Give me 25 kurus worth of cheese! Make sure it is well aged, will you?

An incredible feast awaits you on the marble counter of the coffeehouse. What is this yellow block laying flat on the grocer’s paper, this blonde thing? Is it aged cheese or baklava with many layers? Could this be a woman full of desire reclining before me? Here are two freshly baked simits you can’t bear to break apart. Here is Acem Hasan Efendi’s tulip tea cup with red fingerprints.

Here are the sesame seed crumbs. Place your hand next to the marble counter and fill your palm with them. Toss them into your mouth! Then, rip a small piece from your matchbox to use as a toothpick and as you clean the sesame seeds from your teeth, arrive happily at your work.

The great feast of the morning is over. We can now light up a cigarette.