“Babaji smiled broadly and put his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.” This world is a constant giving of gifts and singing of songs” he said. Gabriel blinked even more confused. The sadhu sighed and said, “Find a song, sing it, and know that where the words are not, you will find the truth”. Babaji held his gaze with a blank face. Then he took a mala, a string of prayer beads, off his wrist. The string bore one hundred and eight beads of rock crystal.
“Think of the verses as beads on a string. One day the song will be over, and the string will return to where it came from “, he said, and placing it around Gabriel’s neck he whispered lovingly, “Never approach a guru with empty hands”. Gabriel felt the heat from the holy fire and the cold of the mountains inhabiting the beads. He cleared his throat to express his gratitude when Babaji slowly, in an almost menacing whisper, added “Do not lose sight of it… ever”. Then he raised his head and walked briskly towards the flock of sheep. He was still singing.”
From Chapter 0, The Source
The Novel, Like Two Rivers, has several story lines that are constantly crossed and woven into each other.
These lines both describe, produce, hide and, uncover the events that make up the lives of the characters.
But just as rivers, towns and bridges play a major role in this book, the story of smaller objects also create an unbroken and simpler thread, meandering through this complex web of life. One important group of such objects are strings of prayer beads, used to recite prayers, mantras or god’s names. In this story they are made of red Coral, blue Lapis Lazuli, clear rock crystal, Turquoise, green glass and simple wood.
Through the narrative, these powerful strings of beautiful beads are given, exchanged, lost and found many times during the lives of the people. Although these rosaries, misabahs, and malas may change religion, appearance and meaning, they play the role of the immutable constant which miraculously connects the fate of characters across time and place.
