The Time Regulation Institute by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Author:Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar [Tanpinar, Ahmet Hamdi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Literary, Classics
ISBN: 9781101613672
Google: QT5KAAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2014-01-07T05:00:00+00:00

II

Yet Halit Ayarcı kept all his promises. Within a week, my sister-in-law began singing in a small club; both Halit Ayarcı and Dr. Ramiz attended the premiere, along with Pakize and the rest of our family. It was indeed a triumph, though I had the feeling that Halit Ayarcı provided both the venue and its audience simply to fulfill his promises of that night. Every time my sister-in-law committed an error in style, she was met with maniacal applause. With every passing moment, I sank deeper into my chair with shame, but in the end the poor girl was hailed as the star of the evening, and cries of “Brava!” were followed by hysterical screams erupting from her sisters and aunts. From time to time, Pakize turned to me with a look that said, “Didn’t I tell you?” Halit Ayarcı watched the entire performance in silence. But as we left the club he said to me:

“Yes, just as I expected. The hanımefendi will be a great success indeed. You need to believe in life, Hayri Bey. But you have more belief in the Acemasiran makam than you do in life itself! Didn’t you just see how well she was received? This is the impact a living human being can have on others. There’s simply no way on earth your classical makams could ever achieve such success. It’s smooth sailing from now on. Oh, you’ll see what she can do.”

And this wasn’t all he did. It was around this time that Halit Ayarcı opened the little office that would become the nucleus of the Time Regulation Institute. One fine morning I stepped through the front door of that little office near the municipality building, wearing a suit Halit Ayarcı had sent me the night before. I was ushered inside by a wise and elderly servant. Nermin Hanım, our head secretary, who was also a relative of Halit Ayarcı’s, jumped up at the first sight of me, as delighted as if she had just set eyes on an old friend. She showed me my desk. She even stopped knitting to do so. That day I learned that Nermin Hanım was always either knitting or talking; she never did anything else. Or, rather, she talked unless she was alone, in which case she knitted.

She was unlike any woman I had ever known. It took no more than a second for her to make a new friend. She had no secrets and no interest in silence. And she never held a grudge: She had even succeeded in divorcing three different husbands without resentment or rancor. Indeed she was still on rather good terms with them. She launched right in:

“The suit looks good. From what Halit Bey told me about you, I figured it would be perfect on you. But really, your shoes do need shining. And you must find another barber. This one seems to have no idea how to cut hair. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found a friend like you here.

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