Thor's Haven

by Richard S Young

  Daniel flicked through the folder and comprehended just how good an intelligence-gathering agency ISI really was. There were inconsequential facts and details listed that even Daniel didn’t know or even remember about himself, let alone what their relevance could be of importance to a foreign intelligence agency. But the more of the file that he read, the more he saw that what he had always thought to be discreet, covert and secretive facts about his life and times formed a comprehensive profile and documentation of data pertaining to his last 23 years or so.

  He closed the folder over and passed it back to Rifat to file away in the cabinet.

  “Do I meet the specifications that you’ve read then? he asked.

  “Even more than I bargained for.” was the reply.

  A female voice called from the hallway and Rifat left the office. He returned moments later with a tray with various hot foods in bowls, a pile of chapattis, a jug filled with iced sharbat and two scented towels. Rifat poured two glasses of sharbat and explained what the different dishes were and asked him to help himself. Daniel watched as Rifat scooped up an amount of a tantalising looking dish with a chapatti and proceeded to eat. Daniel followed Rifat’s lead. Rifat took a sip of the sharbat and asked Daniel to try some, and as Daniel sampled his drink, Rifat began a brief explanation of the refreshing beverage.

  “This sharbat is made from a local tree, the bael. You’ve probably caught sight of it all around you while you have been here and not paid any attention to it. It’s the tall tree with the green and white flowers that have a sweet-sickly scent. It’s used for medicinal purposes for curing stomach troubles such as diarrhoea and dysentery and some say it even helps with diabetes. The tree has a lot of other uses and creates dyes, stains, inks, tattoos, mordants and resin glues and the wood can be made into products. This table is made from bael wood” and he tapped the table-top with his knuckles.

  As they continued eating, Rifat suggested that they should search for details about the strange stone on the internet. Daniel reached into his side trouser pocket and retrieved the stone and laid it on the middle of the bael wood table-top. Rifat got up from the table and left the room. He returned a few minutes later carrying a glass bowl of hot water and placed it on the table beside the stone. He reached into his trouser pocket and removed a small nail brush and left it beside the bowl.

  “We can steep the stone in hot water and see if that removes the grime.” Daniel watched steam vapours rising from the bowl, uplifted the stone and dropped it into the bowl.

  “Steep?” said Daniel. “I haven’t heard that word before.” Rifat laughed as he spotted the quizzical look upon Daniel’s face.

  “I think it’s originally a Scottish word meaning ‘to soak something in a liquid’ to give it a clean. I suppose my English is probably more Scottish sounding to others than most.”

  They continued with their meal and after they had finished, Rifat tidied the plates and bowls onto the tray and removed them from the room. On his return, he lifted the stone from the bowl of water and started to scrub it with the nail brush. The dirt and grime from its surface began to fall away and Rifat repeatedly rinsed the stone and scrubbed it. After a few minutes of repeating this action, he took a hand towel and dried the stone and handed it to Daniel. The stone was pristine white with the lettering and symbol showing up clearly in the black font imbedded upon the surface. Daniel ran his fingers along the grooves of both the lettering and the symbol and found them to be completely smooth. No tool marks or scratch marks could be found at any point.

  “I wonder how the lettering was applied onto the stone? I can’t see any machine marks.”

  Rifat took the stone from Daniel and placed it on a window sill. He kept turning the stone around as he took photographs of it with his mobile phone.

  Daniel walked over to the window and asked Rifat what he was doing.

  “I’ve taken some photographs of the stone with natural light coming in from the window. I’ll just forward them to my computer and we can then upload them into the internet for a search.”

  Both men walked over to the desk and sat down as Rifat began to play around with the photographs on his screen. He used some photograph software to isolate the strange writing and converted it into text format. After running a brief search, answers about the text began to cascade onto the screen, the majority of which listed the text as a form of Aramaic, a 3000 year old language that forms a group of languages called the Semitic languages comprising mainly of Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic but has many other lesser languages associated with it. Some religions still use Aramaic for their meetings and it is the language of the Jewish Talmud. Aramaic was the spoken language in use at the time of Jesus Christ. Some of the answers on the computer screen even gave a translation into English of what the converted text meant:

  ‘The phrase ‘son of god’ is bar alaha in Aramaic, which, in certain dialects is pronounced bar aloho.’

  Rifat and Daniel just stared at the computer screen and its message on display, then at each other and then finally at the stone itself before their eyes returned back to the screen. Rifat uploaded the photographs of the symbol and again used the computer software to capture the shape and convert it into a text format for search purposes. As with the writing, answers began to appear on the screen that identified what the symbol was:

  ‘The Norse rune ‘Perth’ is a rune shrouded in mystery, and although it suggests a number of things, such as the unknown, and the inevitability of one’s destiny, its true meaning is largely obscure and therefore open to various interpretations. However, this rune teaches us that there are truly some things in life which we are not meant to understand, for it counsels us to have faith in ourselves to make the right choices in life by using the wisdom and good sense we have learned along the way.’

  Daniel just sighed and shook his head. He looked at the information on the screen in front of him, picked up the stone and studied it and then glanced back at the screen. He shook his head again in a disbelieving manner, got up from the desk and as he walked over to the window, he muttered “Not again? Why me? Can I not just get a break from this?”

  Rifat watched his new friend’s sudden reaction and looked at the computer to see what could have possibly caused it. All he could see on the display were images of the writing and the symbol and their various meanings. He quickly scrolled over numerous pieces of information about the Aramaic writing and several interpretations about what the lettering meant and their biblical references and contexts. But his attention was drawn to an almost insignificant article on the screen, and only because he recognised a familiar place name: Srinagar.

  ‘The Rozabal Tomb, Srinagar, Kashmir, India by Heri Jorgensen

  The traditional belief among Christians and Muslims was that Jesus rose to heaven and that his body was never buried. Around Easter 2010, many international news organisations and respected newspapers around the world began to run stories about the Rozabal Tomb in the town of Srinagar in the Kashmir region of northern India, and that this tomb was said to contain the body of Jesus, or Yuz Asaf, a name adopted by Jesus when he was supposedly in India searching for the lost tribes of Israel.

  Various articles and reports all detailed large increases in the visitor numbers to the tomb. The news organisations, which included the BBC, The Times in Britain, The New York Times and The Times of India, all contended that the increase of visitors to the region was a direct result of recent television documentaries, a popular thriller called the ‘Rozabal Line’ by Ashwin Sanghi and the 2010 edition of the Lonely Planet travel guide for the Kashmir had mentioned the local rumour that the Rozabal Tomb was also known as the ‘Jesus Tomb’ and collectively, these had been the inspiration for the recent upsurge of people to visit the region. Reports also suggested that this ‘Jesus Tomb’ was also the final resting place for the ‘Son of God’,”bar alaha” in Aramaic.

  In the New Testament, the phrase ‘S
on of God’ is applied to Jesus on many occasions. Furthermore, Jesus declares himself to be the ‘Son of God’ and also by various individuals who appear throughout the New Testament, however, the followers of Jesus are themselves called the ‘sons of God’.

  The general consensus of the many abounding theories was that Jesus, having survived crucifixion, had discreetly left Jerusalem, along with several disciples, and fled to Galilee. From there, he travelled eastwards from Palestine preaching the Gospel to the Lost Tribes of Israel that had been scattered throughout Afghanistan and northern India. He eventually made his way to the Kashmir region, where some Israelite tribes had apparently also settled, and lived there until his death at an old age.

  Aramaic, the language of Palestine at the time of Jesus, has around ninety words that currently feature in the local dialects to be found in and around the Kashmir region. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet evolved from Aramaic. A popular theory, whose evidence is difficult to dispute, details the many similarities between Kashmir place names and Hebrew words and phrases. Kashmir, known locally as Kasher, is purported to be based on the Hebrew word Kashir meaning ‘like Syria’. The Kashmir valley is called Bagh-I-Suleman, the “Garden of Solomon” in local parlance and the connection to ancient Israel continues with Kashmiri place names such as the “Tomb of Moses” and the “Throne of Solomon”. In fact, upon further study, around 350 towns and villages in the Kashmir region are very similar to place names to be found in what is considered to be the Holy Land.’

  “What’s the problem Daniel? The stuff on the computer tells us what these markings mean and that there may be some sort of a connection to a shrine in Srinagar in India. Remember I was telling you earlier about my childhood friend, Rama Shresth? Well he lives in rinagar and I could call him just now about this shrine, and if possible, we could go and see him and the shrine tomorrow. I presume your Danish passport is up to date and you are allowed to go to India?”

  Daniel turned away from the window. “What do you mean that we could just go and see him tomorrow in India? Do we not need to have visas and permissions to cross the border from Pakistan to India?” He looked at Rifat who had a wide smile on his face as he started talking to someone on the telephone. Rifat just winked at Daniel as he wrote some notes down on a piece of paper on the desk and continued talking on the telephone. He placed the receiver back on the cradle as a fax machine over by the window kicked into life and paperwork started to stutter out from its inside.

  Rifat got up from the desk and headed over to the fax machine as it finished printing out its message. Rifat gathered the pages together and waved them at Daniel. “Here’s our permission to go to India and if you come with me just now, we can start on preparing the order to take with us tomorrow morning.”

  Daniel was completely confused now.

  “Permission? Order? What are you talking about? What have you gone and done?”

  Rifat just held the door open and said “Come with me”. Daniel followed him along the hall and back down the stairs into the basement area. He watched Rifat open some cupboards and then remove a number of reams of A4 glossy photographic paper and carry them over to a worktop that was recessed into the wall beside a wide roller shutter doorway that Daniel hadn’t seen earlier. Rifat threw the shuttering up and stepped inside to a large room, and as the lights came on, Daniel became aware that the room was a print room, replete with two expensive looking professional-print photocopiers, and the floor space was littered with boxes that were filled with flyers, brochures and promotional material. Rifat started switching on machines and stood in front of a computer workstation and typed away at the keyboard. A small printer to Daniel’s right started to spit out some paperwork which Rifat retrieved and handed to him.

  “You’ll need to have that with you tomorrow” and returned to the computer. Daniel looked at what he had been given and started to read the Lonely Planet guide to the Kashmir region and an article about the Rozabal Tomb in Srinagar. He was about to ask Rifat what was going on as a large photocopier began to churn out what looked like a catalogue.

  Rifat picked up a copy and handed it to Daniel. He pointed at the front page and said “That’s how we get into India and go to Srinagar. We are going to be personally delivering this urgent print order run of a 1000 catalogues to a Mr. Rama Shresth, Proprietor of the ‘Bollywood Dreams Entertainment and Functions’ company. It specialises in providing Bollywood themed dance parties, weddings, functions, DJs, DVDs and CDs. Rama has made a fortune by cornering a niche market that has become very, very popular in recent years. The Hindu festival, Rama Navami, is about to begin in a few days time and Rama needs the catalogues urgently to promote his business during it.” and winked again at Daniel.

  Daniel just laughed as it dawned on him how he and Rifat were going to get across the border at such short notice. Rama needs this urgent order as soon as possible and to be personally delivered to him tomorrow and luckily, his old friend Rifat has saved the day.

  “I think you have something in your eye. You keep on blinking.” and smiled at Rifat as he handed him back the catalogue.

  “This is going to be a three day road trip. We will have to leave tomorrow morning about 10.00am to head to Lahore. That’s about a 5 hour drive from here. The only border crossing into India by car and by foot is nearby at the village of Wagah and you will want to see the daily flag lowering ceremony at sunset. You could say that the ceremony is nothing more than a great bit of military tourism, but it is an important one. As I said, Wagah is currently the only open road-border crossing between Pakistan and India. The village was divided in half by independence back in 1947 with the still-controversial Radcliffe Line, the boundary demarcation line separating India and Pakistan. Today, the eastern half of the village remains in the Republic of India while the western half is inside Pakistan. The Wagah border closing ‘lowering of the flags’ ceremony is the daily military practice that the Indian Border Security Force and the Pakistan Rangers have jointly followed since 1959. Thousands turn up every day to watch it, and to be honest, the military and tourism departments of both countries have really hit the jackpot by joining the concepts of tourism and patriotism together in what is actually a revenue raker for both sides of the border.”

  “I’ve seen the ceremony on television but I hadn’t appreciated it was a tourist attraction. That’s another thing to cross off my bucket list of things to do before I die. When do we cross over the border? You said it was a three day road trip.”

  “We can only cross the border from about 9.00am to 4.00pm and it takes about 90 minutes just to get across less than 400 metres of land because there are nine different checkpoints. We will have to go through Pakistani immigration and customs first, which I think opens at 9.00am. This side of the border is a relatively easy process to go through, and the immigration staff, although normally really friendly, they do ask you the same questions a number of times. From there, you walk along the tarmac of the empty road towards the border itself, where a guard then opens the gate for you to walk through No Man’s Land.

  Once through that gate and over No Man’s Land, we will then have to go through all the Indian customs and immigration protocols, fill in various forms and answer the same questions that you have already been asked on the Pakistani side. The Indian side is not as well organised as the Pakistani side, and they do seem to enjoy making you wait around quite a bit while they check your documents and luggage etc. We’ll be carrying four open boxes of brochures across and every single one of them is probably going to be scrutinised in case we’ve hidden a tank, aeroplane or a submarine inside them.” Rifat laughed at his own sarcasm and continued speaking.

  “We are the same people separated by religious and political beliefs and the world forgets that we were forcibly divided into different nations over 70 years ago.

  When we have finally satisfied the Indian immigration people, we will then walk the remaining metres to the f
inal checkpoint gate and hopefully Rama will be there waiting to drive us to Srinagar. It’s a long journey to Srinagar though and takes about 7 hours, so I don’t think we are going to get to the city until about 6.00pm. We’ll be staying at Rama’s overnight but we will have to leave sharpish in the morning to get back to Wagah and then walk back across the border before they close the gates at 4.00pm.”

  “What about finding out about the stone and speaking to people at the shrine and what have you?” asked Daniel.

  “Leave it to me. I’ll send the photos tonight to Rama and tell him some more about why we are really coming to see him. Don’t you worry about it all because Rama will sort something out for us.”

  “Could we not just leave earlier tomorrow morning and get to the border crossing around 12.00noon or 1.00pm? If we could do that, it gives us full day the next day to check things out in Srinagar. To be honest, I’m not really fussed with seeing the ceremony, and as I will have to go back to work soon, I’d rather get the research over and done with, satisfy my curiosity and get back to doing my job, if that is alright with you?”

  Rifat looked pleased at Daniel’s suggestion. “That shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I would have preferred to do as you suggest but I thought you might want to see the border ceremony. It is a long time on the road driving and I thought you might want to break up the journey.”

  “Thanks Rifat. I would rather get this out of way now and attempt to return to having a normal life again.”

  “OK. I watched your reaction when you were reading that article about the Rozabal Tomb. What was that all about, if you don’t mind me asking?”