Ian McDonald - River of Gods

The light is almost gone now, deep indigo has settled across the river. The air is cool, the far clouds carry an edge of luminosity, they seem huge and improbable as dreams. The musicians have picked up the pace, the devotees take up the song to Mother Ganga. The Brahmins descend through the crowd. Father and child are gone.

They never forgot us, thinks Lisa Durnau. In all the billions—trillions—of subjective years of their experience and history, they always remembered this act of betrayal on the banks of the Ganga, and they compelled us to enact it. The burning chakra of regeneration is endless. The Tabernacle is a prophecy, and an oracle. The answer to everything we need to know is in there, if we only know how to ask.

“Lull…”

He whips his finger to his lips, no, hush, don’t speak. Thomas Lull gets stiffly to his feet. For the first time Lisa Durnau sees the old man he will be, the lonely man he wishes to become. Where he goes this time, not even the Tablet can see.

“L. Durnau.”

“Kathmandu, then. Or Thailand.”

“Somewhere.”

He offers a hand and she knows that after she takes it she will never see him again.

“Lull, I can’t thank you.”

“You don’t have to. You would have seen it.”

She takes the hand.

“Good-bye, Thomas Lull.”

Thomas Lull dips his head in a small bow.

“L. Durnau. All partings should, I think, be sudden.”

The musicians ratchet up a gear, the crowd gives a vast, incoherent sigh and leans towards the five platforms where the priests offer puja.

Flames whirl up from the Brahmins’ aarti lamps, momentarily dazzling Lisa Durnau. When her vision clears, Lull is gone.

Out on the water, a flaw of wind, a current catches the garland of marigolds and turns it and carries it out into the dark river.

AARTI: Hindu ceremony of offering light to a deity. ADIVASI: ancient Indian tribal cultures, beneath the caste system. ANGREEZ: Hindi-isation of “English”

APSARA: celestial nymph, often a bracket support in a temple, originally tree spirits.

ARAHB: Hindi number equal to 10 9. Indians have useful names for very large numbers.

ARDHA MANDAPA: entrance porch, leading into the mandapa, or colonnaded hall of a temple.

BABA: term of endearment. BABU: civil servant or bureaucrat.

BADMASH: a nasty and brutish little hood. With attitude. BAHADUR: proud, self-important, pompous. BAKHTI: the path of devotion.

BANSURI: North Indian six- or seven-hole bamboo flute.

BARADARI: Pakistani/Pashtun affiliation group somewhere between a clan, a gang, and a Massive.

BASTI: settlement or slum, also (confusingly) a Jain temple complex.

BEGUM: term of respect to a Muslim married lady.

BEHEN CHOWD: sister-fucker, most common Hindi term of abuse.

BHAI: suffix after a proper name, indicating respectful closeness.

BHAVAN: house—usually one of some distinction.

BHEESTY: domestic servant in charge of water supply.

BIBI: Hindi term for a married woman.

BIDI: a native Indian cigarette, tapered towards the tip. Deathsticks, if ever there were. BIG DADA: low hood; literally means “big arm.” Strong arm boy.

BINDI: forehead mark indicating caste, though it can be worn decoratively. The tilak is the religious equivalent.

BRAHMIN: the highest of the four main castes; the priestly caste, so holy not even the gods could harm them. (See also varna.) In context, also the genetically modified children of the rich.

BRINJAL: eggplant.

BULBUL: common, titlike bird with black head and white cheeks and a famously sweet song.

BURQA: traditional public attire of a Muslim woman, anything from a thin headscarf to a full marquee.

CHAKRA: energy node in the human body. There are seven: from the pubis to the crown of the head.

CHARBAGH: water garden, of Islamic design, divided into quarters.

CHARPOY: rope-strung, low bed frame, very popular in rural India for lolling on to observe the passing world.

CHHATRI: small decorative Mughal pavilion in the form of a cupola on open pillars.

CHITAL: most common species of Indian deer, with a spotted hide. Also known as the Buddha’s deer: his last incarnation before becoming human was a Chital.

CHO CHWEET: common term of endearment.

CHOLI: short-sleeved, tight undershirt worn by women under a sari.

CHOWKIDAR: a nightwatchman.

CHUUTYA: “cunthole” in Hindi slang.

CRORE: 10 7.

CUTCHA: opposite of pukka.

DACOIT: armed gangsters/robbers. Still widely used. DAL: lentils, the staple of rural India.

DALIT: the lowest caste. Literally “the Oppressed,” they were formerly known as Untouchables.

DARSHAN: the auspicious glance of a temple deity, or a rich and powerful person. DARWAZ: entrance gate to a mosque.

DESI: Indianness as perceived by the overseas community—a nostalgic, affectionate sense of India. In UK Asian youth parlance, means the same as pukka: real, genuine.

DEVA/DEVI: god/goddess. Also a common name. DHABA: roadside/streetside eating establishment.

DHARAMSHALA: guest accommodations for pilgrims, students, and travellers. DHOBI: laundry, usually on a flat dhobi-rock by the side of a river or a well. DHOL: a type of drum.

DHOTI: long loincloth, less common in cities, as worn by Gandhi.

DHURI: woven cotton rug.

DIKPALAS: guardian figures on a temple roof.

DIWAN: open-pillared Mughal audience hall.

DIYA: floating candle set in the river Ganga as an offering.

DUPATTA: long scarf traditionally worn with the shalwar kameez, or trouser suit.

DVARAPALA: gateway guardian deity at Hindu temple doorways: literally doorkeeper.

FIRENGl: foreigner, one of several Hindi words appropriated by Star Trek. (See also jemadar.)

GAJRA: the ubiquitous marigold garland, a good auspice.

GALI: an alleyway.

GANJA: exactly as in Jamaican.

GARBHAGRIHA: inner womb sanctum of a Hindu temple. GHAZAL: Islamic song of love, usually in Urdu. GODOWN: workshop, warehouse, often impromptu.

GOL GUPPAS: Indian street food: stuffed wheat balls. Better than they sound. GOPIS: milkmaid companions of the Lord Krishna. They liked his flute playing. GORA: contemptuous expression for a white person. GUNDA: a common street thug. GUPSHUP: vaguely scurrilous gossip.

GYANA CHAKSHU: the third eye of Siva, literally the “eye of wisdom” that penetrates illusion.

HAVELI: traditional courtyard house of the better off, usually Muslim.

HIJRA: literally “eunuch.”

HINDUTVA: the essential spirit of Indianness as being essentially Hindu: religious nationalism.

HOWDAH: large, often ceremoniously dressed saddle for an elephant. IFTAR: meal that breaks the Ramadan dawn-to-dusk fast. IWAN: Sufi dancing hall.

IZZAT: military term for respect, esprit de corps. JAI: “glory” or “victory!”

JANUM: term of endearment usually used of males. Means “sweet.” JATI: the system of subcastes within the four main castes of varna . JAWAN: Indian soldier or paramilitary policeman.

JELLABA: long, light cotton robe worn extensively and comfortably by Muslim men from Morocco to Malaysia.

JEMADAR: Indian noncommissioned military officer. JHAROKA: projecting window or balcony. JIVA: the immortal essence of a living being. JOHAD: a semicircular dam for run-off water.

KADAI: Indian cooking pan, shaped rather like a wok with two handles. KALAMKARI: dyed and painted highly decorative fabrics from Andhra Pradesh. KARSEVAK: Hindu fundamentalist pilgrim/activist. KATHAK: a North Indian dance.

KETTUVALLAM: a Keralese houseboat, about seventy feet long. Originally used to transport rice.

KHIDMUTGAR: chief steward in a household, almost a butler. LAKH: 10 5.