moment then shook his head. “Forgiveness and forgetfulness are irrelevant. It is all about accepting what has been and moving on to what is now.”
“Well, I’m still impressed. If that had been me that had been cheated I’d still be mad.”
“Oh, some of the others remain most sincerely disturbed, I assure you. But their anger, as Krishnamurti has shown, is based on their fears, fears about their past mistakes, and their uncertain future. By accepting what is and not obsessing on what might have been or what might yet come, you defeat fear. Without fear there is no anger, without anger there is no violence.”
“Violence? You think these friends of yours are capable of violence?” Lines from Ravi’s email buzzed in his memory.
“ Absolutely ,” Attar said, tapping the horn to emphasize the point. “We are capable of extreme violence. We just need the right push.”
“But Sriram’s dead.”
“But the fear he caused lives on. And with fear there is the inevitability of violence. And for my old acquaintances, you now represent that fear, and in their eyes that fear must be destroyed. So with that, if you will please awaken your wife….”
Jason felt his hand grip the doorframe and his leg muscles tense. “Why?”
“Because when we get to the top of this hill,” Attar said, “there is a most spectacular view of the Amber Palace.”
Chapter Seven
The cobra reared two feet above the rim of the basket, its hood wide as it swayed in time to the tuneless music. Without thinking, Jason took a step back.
“Don’t worry. It can’t bite you,” Rachel said, stooping down to the snake’s level to get a picture. “My guidebook says that the charmer sews the snake’s mouth shut before a performance.” She framed the shot on the small screen before digitally saving the image. “One stitch and it can’t open its mouth.”
Attar spoke with the snake charmer, who rocked from side to side, tempting the fat black snake to strike. He slipped the wood flute from his mouth to speak but kept it moving in front of him, returning to his high-pitched wailing song as Rachel moved in for a tighter shot.
“The snake charmer wants me to ask you if you would like to sew a deadly cobra’s mouth shut.”
Rachel laughed as she schooched closer to the snake. “What are you, nuts? There’s no way I’d do that.”
“Interesting,” Attar said after relaying the comment. “That’s exactly what he says.”
It took a moment, but when it sunk in Rachel stumbled to her feet and ducked behind Jason, her hands reaching around his chest as she peeked over his shoulders. The snake charmer eased the lid down on the snake’s head and it disappeared into the low, round basket. He smiled up to Jason, who handed the man a handful of rupee notes.
“You could have bought the snake for that much,” Attar said, shaking his head.
“It was worth it,” Jason said, feeling Rachel’s warm body tight against his.
They had spent most of the afternoon at the hilltop Amber Palace, wandering though its ornate and empty rooms, Rachel providing background information summarized in her guidebook, Attar chuckling as he corrected her pronunciation. Jason struggled to make sense of it all—the massive palace gates, every inch covered with symmetrical eight-fold designs, the crooked passages that ended in hidden rooms, secret balconies with epic views of the valley below and everything older than the oldest building he’d ever seen. For all its age and beauty it lacked a logical layout, its ornamental symmetry lost in a fun house maze of dead-end hallways, slanting floors and off-centered windows. It was impressive, he heard himself saying, but with a little more planning and organization it could have been awesome.
The sun was low on the horizon when they reentered the city, Attar joining in the chorus of tinny beeps and screeching brakes, but he insisted that they make one last stop. From the street the Palace of Winds promised to be
“Well, I’m still impressed. If that had been me that had been cheated I’d still be mad.”
“Oh, some of the others remain most sincerely disturbed, I assure you. But their anger, as Krishnamurti has shown, is based on their fears, fears about their past mistakes, and their uncertain future. By accepting what is and not obsessing on what might have been or what might yet come, you defeat fear. Without fear there is no anger, without anger there is no violence.”
“Violence? You think these friends of yours are capable of violence?” Lines from Ravi’s email buzzed in his memory.
“ Absolutely ,” Attar said, tapping the horn to emphasize the point. “We are capable of extreme violence. We just need the right push.”
“But Sriram’s dead.”
“But the fear he caused lives on. And with fear there is the inevitability of violence. And for my old acquaintances, you now represent that fear, and in their eyes that fear must be destroyed. So with that, if you will please awaken your wife….”
Jason felt his hand grip the doorframe and his leg muscles tense. “Why?”
“Because when we get to the top of this hill,” Attar said, “there is a most spectacular view of the Amber Palace.”
Chapter Seven
The cobra reared two feet above the rim of the basket, its hood wide as it swayed in time to the tuneless music. Without thinking, Jason took a step back.
“Don’t worry. It can’t bite you,” Rachel said, stooping down to the snake’s level to get a picture. “My guidebook says that the charmer sews the snake’s mouth shut before a performance.” She framed the shot on the small screen before digitally saving the image. “One stitch and it can’t open its mouth.”
Attar spoke with the snake charmer, who rocked from side to side, tempting the fat black snake to strike. He slipped the wood flute from his mouth to speak but kept it moving in front of him, returning to his high-pitched wailing song as Rachel moved in for a tighter shot.
“The snake charmer wants me to ask you if you would like to sew a deadly cobra’s mouth shut.”
Rachel laughed as she schooched closer to the snake. “What are you, nuts? There’s no way I’d do that.”
“Interesting,” Attar said after relaying the comment. “That’s exactly what he says.”
It took a moment, but when it sunk in Rachel stumbled to her feet and ducked behind Jason, her hands reaching around his chest as she peeked over his shoulders. The snake charmer eased the lid down on the snake’s head and it disappeared into the low, round basket. He smiled up to Jason, who handed the man a handful of rupee notes.
“You could have bought the snake for that much,” Attar said, shaking his head.
“It was worth it,” Jason said, feeling Rachel’s warm body tight against his.
They had spent most of the afternoon at the hilltop Amber Palace, wandering though its ornate and empty rooms, Rachel providing background information summarized in her guidebook, Attar chuckling as he corrected her pronunciation. Jason struggled to make sense of it all—the massive palace gates, every inch covered with symmetrical eight-fold designs, the crooked passages that ended in hidden rooms, secret balconies with epic views of the valley below and everything older than the oldest building he’d ever seen. For all its age and beauty it lacked a logical layout, its ornamental symmetry lost in a fun house maze of dead-end hallways, slanting floors and off-centered windows. It was impressive, he heard himself saying, but with a little more planning and organization it could have been awesome.
The sun was low on the horizon when they reentered the city, Attar joining in the chorus of tinny beeps and screeching brakes, but he insisted that they make one last stop. From the street the Palace of Winds promised to be
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