The Magicians of Mazda by Ashwin Sanghi

Author:Ashwin Sanghi [Sanghi, Ashwin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: null
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Published: 2022-05-20T18:30:00+00:00

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SOME WEEKS LATER, I boarded the flight to America and spent the next few months there getting settled. Thoughts of Zarathustra and his ancient people were far from my mind as I focused on the humdrum present: my living arrangements, classes, assignments and new friendships. I had carried with me the little earthen box that my father had given me, but it remained locked away in a drawer, out of sight and mind. The words I’d memorised meant nothing. They were just words.

Several years went by in pursuits both trivial and life-changing. And then Linda happened.

I met her in one of the campus restaurants when I was pursuing my doctorate. She had collected her order at the self-service counter but had forgotten to include a bottle of water. Picking it up would have meant standing in queue once again. I had offered to buy it for her instead. Her grateful smile had me there and then.

I had been too shy to ask her out, so she did the honours. I found her to be wise, warm and witty. Just a few years younger than me, she was working towards a master’s degree in the history of religions. A few months later we found ourselves going steady.

Linda had grown up in California, the daughter of a white liberal Protestant father from San Francisco and a Hindu mother from Jakarta, Indonesia. Her mixed roots and upbringing made her open to all sorts of philosophical and spiritual ideas. She was no ordinary master’s programme student; probably far, far ahead of her class, she kept her professors on their toes. She was inquisitive about my faith and we had many discussions about Zoroastrianism. She would even go to the library and borrow books to fill the many gaps in my explanations.

One day we were watching my favourite movie together—Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. When the overture came on, I was as usual mesmerised. I had heard it a million times, but it never ceased to enthral me. Linda looked mysteriously pleased during the opening strains. I wondered why she was amused. She informed me that the soundtrack was to a score of Richard Strauss’s composition.

When I asked what was significant about that, Linda told me that Strauss had been heavily influenced by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, Thus Spake Zarathustra. The book had prompted him to compose the Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30. It was this composition that had been used in the opening of the movie. I was amazed that there was a Zoroastrian connection to the film.

I also realised that my great-granduncle Homi’s own composition based on the Yatha Ahu Vairyo had probably been influenced by Strauss! That launched Linda and me into a discussion on Zarathustra—and then there was no letting up on that subject for the rest of my life.

Some months later, we had been lounging in my apartment when my open desk drawer caught Linda’s eye. She eyed the earthen box inside it curiously and asked me about the unusual design on the lid.

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