"Humse na ulajh ae zaalim, hamne har haal mein jeene ki kasam khayi hai, tera nadaan guroor na tujhe wahan le jayee ke jahan teri maut aaye hai", spelled the placard hanging above the desk of Musa Sheikh. The script on display was that of Urdu which was a derivation from Persian and Arabic. After trying in vain to resist the urge, John gave in and asked Musa: "So what does it mean the truism hanging over your head?". The Sheikh moved his neck with a visible strain on it and also the girth of his abdomen, although he did not particularly need to as he remembered every word of it. Just to absorb the essence, John thought. Well Mr John Baker, it is the essence of patience and renunciation. "How so?", John got more interested and inquisitive. "You have a keen interest and an innate curiosity", the Sheikh professed. "Ah you should meet my friend someday", shuddered John. "But the truism now", he completed his sentence. "Ok let me put it this way, have you watched Jack Reacher the movie. There is an instance in it where Reacher talks about a blind spot.", John's nod grew in amplitude as the dialogue progresses clearly hitting the spot in the feature film where the conversation had occurred. How could he not. This was the stuff that he lived by. And he really grasped the essence of the writing as well. Reacher had spoken about the run to the finish line. His station in life was that of a man with nothing to loose and ample skill. And ample intent to add to it. And his MO was the striking of the lightning when it was least expected. His disposition was to avoid confrontation but his dint was to outwit and out-race the adversary. He was ready to go to any length of time and rationale in a fight. And it was always going to be a losing battle for his opponent. He was in a way the destiny's instrument to bring the uncouth and arrogant aggressor to justice. And he believed in saving the mean-ness for the end. "A arrow once shot should hit the target and should need to fire just one for one." There was little more that the Sheikh explained to John on that one. "The real satisfaction in revenge is when you see fear, helplessness, worthlessness, weakness sans repentance in the eye of the perpetrator of the injustice when you brutally bring him to closure. And when your own eye is devoid of mercy. That brings the kind of terror that finds its place deeply etched in the wiring of the mind in an instant that would cripple him forever. Mmy faith does not allow me to believe in rebirth but any practitioner of the law of reincarnation worth their salt would tell you that such impressions or samskaars would carry into their next lives", concluded the Sheikh. The passion and intensity that had lit the countenance of the otherwise dull Sheikh was an added confirmation to John that there was more to his story than was known to the gentry in the inner circles of San Francisco. "You make no attempt to conceal your deeply sinister vengeful thoughts," John could not help remark. "It is the wisdom and the burden at the same time Mr Baker, presses you with the melancholy but lifts you with its own freedom. Only if you have taken the hard yards that is. But remember, there needs to be the disguise of the fixed smile before the moment arrives.", the Sheikh retorted seemingly regaining his poise. After an extended second of awkwardness, John smiled and bid adieu eventually.
"A conversation after his own heart. He would definitely find the Sheikh intriguing.. I wonder how would their conversation flow if they ever met. Anyhow, I would make it a point to mention this rendezvous with him tonight.", thought Baker to himself. If it was bizzarre that he had been reminded of his friend as he moved out of the house of the Sheik, it was only to the uninitiated. That was because the only man there could be to grasp the essence of the Sheikh's utterances through experience and then add some to it, it had to be John Baker's flatmate and somewhat kindred spirit of xxxxxxxxx
