They had been driving together for an hour
and neither man knew each other’s language. They had only met each other for a
short while and were cordial and mutually curious of each other. Silence became
a wall between them but not one which destroyed the prospects of making
contact.
They rode along the dirt road in a
four-wheeled drive vehicle going deeper and deeper into wilderness. The wheels
of their vehicle left virgin tracks behind them as they both climbed and
descended into arid, rocky and deserted desert terrain.
Faizul was the
driver and Perry was the passenger who hired him to drive the 400 kilometers
from the city of
Faizul was the
first to speak after a thirty minute period of silence. He pointed to the
mountains rising at the horizon and said, “Sahar!”
Perry had no idea what ‘sahar’
meant but presumed that it was the word for ‘mountain’ in the local language
and simply echoed Faizul’s word. “Yes, sahar, isn’t it?”
Another pregnant silence followed and it
was one which lasted longer and deeper than the first. The terrain was beginning
to change and became as desolate as the silence and breathtaking in its own way
with a broad expanse leading out to the mountains over rugged soil. An
occasional desolate hut appeared but looked uninhabited and for the most part
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle went undisturbed and unhindered across the
landscape.
After three hours Faizul
pulled the four-wheeled drive off the main road and down into a descending
valley. This diversion brought them into a lower area which resembled the valley
floor extending into a wide plateau. Here according to archaeologists could be
found the fossilized eggs and bones of dinosaurs which once ruled the earth
hundreds of millions of years ago.
Faizul pointed to
the wide expanse which lay before him and exclaimed, “Sahar!”
Perry recognized this word as the same he
had heard earlier when passing the mountains earlier in the day, but now there
were no mountains to be seen, only a low descending road leading further down
onto a vast plateau.
Perry simply echoed, “Sahar!”
and nodded in agreement knowing that ‘sahar’ could
not mean ‘mountain’ but may mean ‘valley’ or ‘plain’ or even something else.
The afternoon passed and once again Faizul and Perry were on the road. It was approaching dusk
and the hostility of the terrain made it necessary to pause for a night’s rest
along their journey to secure a place to sleep for the night. They entered a
small village made up of a cluster of tiny thatched-roofed homes. Fires were
heating the hearth and the glow of the flames enlivened the windows with
dancing shadows. Faizul approached one house and
asked the owner if he could stay for the night promising to leave in the early
morning. The owner was a kindly man and his wife who was much younger than her
husband greeted the two pilgrims and gave them a place to stay near they fire.
In the brief exchanges of pleasantries
they communicated with gestures and through signs, the art of pantomime
conveying the basics of thought. Perry drew from his bag some small packets of
loose tea which he handed to the host who quickly prepared and brewed the
beverage.
“Chinese tea,” Perry proclaimed, “Good
tea. Please take.” The idea that cryptic brevity would enhance communication
and bring about understanding enlivened Perry to offer more bags of tea which
the host generously accepted.
Once the tea had been brewed and poured Faizul took a sip and exclaimed with great pleasure, “Sahar!” He said this with great excitement and satisfaction
and gave the ‘thumbs up’ sign as a gesture which he thought Perry could
appreciate.
Suddenly Perry understood the meaning of
‘sahar.’ It
was a word which was used in three contexts in one day and all three situations
had a common denominator which bound them together.
First, there were the mountains. Faizul had
pointed to them but he did not say ‘mountain’. He merely pointed out the beauty
which they possessed and wanted Perry to notice them as well. Then there were
the dinosaur pits with the fossilized eggs. Here there were no mountains but
the vast beauty of the valley and the stark expanse of desert rock which
changed colors like a chameleon. They had a different beauty of their own. Faizul used the same word to bring such beauty to Perry’s
attention. Finally, there was the tea. Tea is not beautiful in the same way
that mountains are and not as spectacular as the vast fossilized fields of the
dinosaurs, but the quality the tea possessed a fineness of taste rare in teas.
Perry thought of the three situations in which ‘sahar’
had been used to describe a moment and now knew the meaning of the word. He was
content with his deduction and would find an opportunity to put his guess to
the test.
After an evening of drinking tea and
sharing presence rather than conversation Faizul,
Perry and their hosts retired for the evening. The moon was full and the stars
shone with brilliance in a cloudless sky. The sounds of nature created a
symphony of subtle calm and beauty as the door of the hut remained open for a
evening breeze to filter though the interior of the home.
The hours passed and Perry woke up in the
hours before dawn. It was still dark but the morning air was cool and inviting.
He walked outside, covered himself with a sweater and sat down facing the east
to contemplate the expanse of nature. The light of dawn gradually cut through
the night and dawn began to break in the sky asserting her presence.
It was a gradual lightening but was
developing into a perfect sunrise with the red blaze of sun rising at the
horizon. The sun emerged pushing upward into a cloudless sky and burned aflame
in perfect beauty. The wide scope of nature was in full power.
As he sat there Faizul
emerged from the hut also drawn out of the hut by the cool breeze and eternal
silence. Perry saw him and pointing to the rising sun said, “Sahar!”
Faizul smiled
and nodding in agreement said, “Yes, Sahar!”