07 – The Deadly Visitor

It is Friday and the wind blows hard in Port Elizabeth. During break at school, Billy invited Kadin for another jog session around the park oblivious of the fact that Arnav is sitting on the same hidden bench determined to stay awake this time. Lucky for them, her legs are still sore and the wind is unpleasant and they decide to go for another swim. The practice should help for her painful muscles especially. They enjoy another day at the swimming pool and Kadin feels much better afterwards.

In the meantime, thousands of kilometers away, at the top end of the globe, Ahmed smiles happily and comes round his desk and stops in front of Vipracitti. He touches the special, very expensive material of the exquisite suit of $43 000. It is a Brioni Vanquish suit. He smiles highly amused.

"Forgive me, master, but I’ve never thought I would see you in a smart suit like this.”

He looks up towards the bulge on the head of his guru where the body-length rasta hair of the guru is tied up and rolled in a black cloth. Vipracitti is usually stark naked in the cemetery of his temple, painted blue with the ash of burnt-out corpses over him and with his long rasta hair hanging down to his feet. When he moves out of the temple, he usually wears a loose, long robe that covers him partly. His face is always painted white with the usual Aghori signs and he has a dirty, bushy beard. Now his face and beard are clean and he looks like a stinking rich sheikh.

The guru places his clean right hand lightly on Ahmed’s head and strokes him gently as if he is his monkey.

“I discovered you in a cemetery where you, naked and trembling, hid with the monkeys, my child. A forlorn, six-year-old boy who was left cruelly behind by the brutal world of Kali Yuga. And look now; you let them design this special, smart tailored suit; but quietly, under the radar, you are one of the wealthiest people on earth. Mother Laksmi smiles upon you and rewards you day by day.”

Ahmed looks at him in wonder: “You are my everything; you saved me from the slums and your magic made me rich. I’m nothing without you.”

Vipracitti lovingly strokes Ahmed’s head before he moves his hand over his neck and breast and stops with the palm on his heart.

"You have an exceptional will and drive-force and that made you a self-made billionaire and that let you survive in this cruel world. Since you were a lonely throw-away child you had to rely on a mission of monkeys’ kindness. The slums and the ruthless devils of Kali Yuga couldn’t even block you because your instinct to survive makes you relentless.

“Sometimes it manifest as fear and anger because deep inside you that small boy is hidden. The small boy that Shiva sent me from His cemetery home and in such times you need the wisdom and magic of your guru to lead you on the right path.”

Vipracitti lovingly looks deep in Ahmed’s eyes: “Ignorance still brings uncertainty in you, my child. You are asking yourself why we should wait till now before your guru applied for a passport to get to the southern point of Africa. You are asking yourself: if this is the game of Shiva, the Great Extinguisher, why does it look if Vishnu, the Great Protector, time and again protects this devilish civilization? Every time you think we are on the point of a breakthrough, the Great Players throw a curveball and you lose faith because the greater game of Brahman confuses you.

“Wisdom and tolerance will in time become part of you, my child. You will again realize that we are the instruments in the game of the Great Personalities of Brahman. I want to assure you there is a greater goal and it is now the time of Shiva, The Destroyer, because the time is ticking for Mother Earth under the selfish, devilish activities of Kali Yuga. Mother Earth is more important than one selfish species, for our Brahman because she is the precious giver of life. It’s our time and in the end, nothing will block our success. But we must be tolerant and know that we must not be in the way of the intermediate game of Vishnu.

“That is the wisdom of your guru who knows how the Personalities of Brahman function and always in harmony with his Greater Plan. This only gives me the right to the magic of our mighty Shiva.”

~*~*~

On Saturday there is a light drizzle and they swim. Kadin enjoys every moment with Billy but she is frustrated because she must continually remind herself that they are only friends and nothing more. Maybe Chantal is his girlfriend. Kadin and Billy are totally relaxed and involved with each other and ignorant of the fact that Billy might be sought by the dangerous men in the park. Tomorrow they are going to the Krishna temple and hopefully, the spiritual leader of the ISKCON can help them by explaining the Sanskrit in the booklet.

While they relax in the swimming pool, they don’t notice the noise of yet another Boeing that flies over and is going to land at the airport. It was only yet another noisy airplane from Johannesburg and the airport is not far from the park.

However, it is Vipracitti that comes down the stairs and puts his feet on the soil of Africa for the first time. Aryan and Mohammed take him to the Holiday Inn. On the way they stop at a shop where Aryan buys a pencil, an eraser and a sketchbook. They are now sitting in the restaurant of the Holiday Inn with Aryan and Mohammed opposite Vipracitti.

Aryan put the sketchbook in front of the guru and the pencil next to it. Mohammed looks uncomfortable and Aryan avoids his eyes and they both wonder what plan the guru has in stall. He usually doesn’t talk much and only speaks when necessary without showing any emotion. They have never seen him losing his temper because he is very calculating and in full command and often full of unbelievable surprises.

Vipracitti looks straight at Aryan who tries to avoid his eyes instantly: “Look at me Aryan.”

Aryan looks up but avoids the guru’s eyes and instead focuses on the bulging cloth that hides the long hair of the guru. All the people that walk past them, stares openly or peep covertly to the guru, fascinated by this strange man with the giant bulge on his head and bushy beard that looks like a very rich sheikh in a very expensive suit.

"Aryan, you always avoid my eyes. You are the three most capable, trained men of Ahmed in the martial arts and you can kill any man with your bare hands in seconds or place them in a hopeless position but you are always afraid of me. You don’t have to fear me because it is my strength that is going to ensure your success. Let’s make a deal, Aryan. You know I am bound by Shiva and may not break a promise because I will then lose my strength of magic.

“I now promise you that I only want to visit your memory and I will close the door of your thoughts afterwards. I only want to peep in to look at the necessary part of our operation. I know you function on your own, Aryan. Come, have the courage to look me in the eyes.”

Reluctantly Aryan sighs and shakes his head left and right. He has always managed to avoid those eyes. Now, the guru has just landed and look now! Why is he and Arnav the two that have the best picture of the boy penned in their heads? He tries a last time in desperation.

"I will describe him to you, master.”

“Look into my eyes, Aryan!”

Despondently Aryan looks at the sketchbook and pencil and he wishes hê had the talent to draw well but he has not.

“Come, you are brave enough. Look in my eyes.”

He looks up into the strange, dark eyes and they catch his like strong magnets and they change into dark pools and everything around the guru vanishes completely. Aryan sits there totally lame and penned down in his chair.

The guru’s voice echoes like thunder in a deep, dark cave: “You are in the park, Aryan, and you are looking at the boy with the booklet in his hand.”

Aryan suddenly again sees the boy. It is as if his thoughts suddenly catches the boy’s image like a three dimensional DVD player frozen in time, just before the boy turned and ran away. It is as if time stalls and he sees the finest detail that he missed before. The image is so clear and realistic and he even hears the sound of the birds singing and the movement of thousands of creeping insects everywhere.

Suddenly he awakes from the trance and his guru’s voice is normal; deep and rough. “You see it wasn’t difficult at all.”

Vipracitti takes the pencil and starts to draw. In amazement, Aryan and Mohammed see how the drawing takes shape as he quickly sketches and it begins to look like a black and white photo in which he sketches finer detail with soft strokes with the pencil like a talented artist. A master-like drawing emerges in front of their eyes in the finest detail and even the background is so realistic that it resembles a black and white photo that was taken by a real camera. They are hugely impressed by the guru’s magic and wonder if there is anything that he cannot fix.

Aryan is flabbergasted: “It looks like a real photo of the boy even with background detail!”

Carefully the guru tears out the page and hands it over to Aryan. “Go and make may copies of this. We are going to distribute it amongst the street kids in the vicinity and we are going to promise them $100 if they can show us where they saw the boy and that could help us to find the boy. You see, Aryan, why it was necessary for me to keep my promise to you. The door to your thoughts is still locked.”

Aryan smiles relieved and takes the sketch.

“Thank you very much, master!”