The Business

'Physics.  That's our Brahmin faith.'

'You think so?'

'I think a lot of people live as though that's true, even if they don't think about it.  To us, science is the religion that works.  Other faiths claim miracles, but science delivers them, through technology: replacing diseased hearts, talking to people on the other side of the world, travelling to other planets, determining when the universe began.  We display our faith every time we turn on a light switch or step aboard a jet.'

'You see?  All very interesting, but I prefer the idea of Nirvana.'

'As you said, sir, it's a hard path, but only if you think of it.'

'One of your American professors said that to study religion was merely to know the mind of man, but if one truly wanted to know the mind of God, you must study physics.'

'That sounds familiar.  I think I've read his book.'

The Rinpoche pinched his lower lip. 'I think I see what he meant now, but I could not explain to him that the thoughts of people and the phenomena we seek to explain through physics might all be revealed as…subsidiary to the attainment of true enlightenment, which would be like the result of one of those experiments which use high energies to show that apparently quite different forces are in fact the same.  Do you see what I mean?  That having achieved Nirvana, one might recognise all human behaviour and the most profound physical laws as being ultimately indistinguishable in their essence.'

I had to pause while I let this sink in.  Then I stood back a pace from the Rinpoche and said, 'Wow, you guys don't just wander into this job, do you?'

The Rinpoche's eyes sparkled and he held one hand over his mouth while he giggled modestly.

Amongst and above them snow pigeons, sunbirds, jungle crows, barbets, choughs, warblers, babblers, grandalas, accentors, Himalayan griffon vultures and Thulahnese tragopans hopped, flitted, scurried, dived, wheeled or stooped.

I was on my way back from the toilet; I nodded and smiled at the little lady-in-waiting as she headed where I'd just been, then spotted Josh Levitsen letting himself out of a door and on to a terrace overlooking the dark town.  I followed him.  He stood by the stone parapet, swaying, hands cupped in front of his mouth as he fumbled with the Zippo, his face suddenly yellow in the flame as the lighter flared.  He looked up as I approached.

'Hey, Ms Telman, you're going to catch your death of cold out here, you know that?  Nice dress.  Did I say that earlier?  You're a babe, you know that?  If you don't mind me saying so, that is.  Here, you wa

'Thanks.'

We leant on the stonework.  It really was quite cold, though at least there was no wind.  I felt the hairs on my arms prickle, goose-bumps rising.  The grass was strong.  I held it in for a while, but ended up coughing on the exhale.

I handed the ski

'Thulahn's finest.  Every pack comes with a sanity warning from the Lord High Surgeon General.'

'Do they export much?  I've never heard of Thulahnese.'

'Na, me neither.  For consumption on the premises only.' He studied the joint before handing it back to me. 'Maybe just as well.  Prices might go up.'

We smoked in silence for a while.

'It true they have opium poppies in some of the lower valleys?' I asked.

'Yeah, some.  That leaves the country, but it's minimal.' He sucked smoke and handed the J back. 'Compared to other places.  Tried that stuff once,' he said, pronouncing the words as he sucked more air in.  Then he gri

I shivered. 'Absolutely.  Moderation in all things.  Here.'

'Couldn't agree more.  Thanks.' Silence. 'What you looking at?'

'Can you see the old palace from here?'

'Na.  Further round the valley there, higher, too.'

'Right.' Silence. 'Breeze.'

'Yup.'

'Wind getting up.'

'She'll be fine until the east wind blows.'

'What?'

'Nuthin'.'

Silence. 'Jeez, the stars.'

'Cool, huh?  Hey, you look cold.'

'I am absolutely fucking freezing.'

'Better get back in.  People will talk.'

'Indeed.  Good grief, my teeth are chattering.  I didn't think that really happened.'

A stiff vodka martini gave the impression that it was counteracting the effects of the joint.  Probably doing nothing of the sort, but I felt like I needed it anyway.  I didn't entirely trust myself not to slur my words, or babble, so I circulated in Minimum Speech Mode for a while, standing on the outskirts of groups and listening, or just nodding knowledgeably/sympathetically as somebody else sounded off.  I narrowly escaped being collared a second time by the boring Austrian with the factory, but in the course of this manoeuvre bumped into the Prince.

'Kathryn, you are enjoying yourself?'

'Having a total hoot of a time, Suvinder.  What a swell party this is.  How about you, Princey baby?' Ah, well, Kathryn.  Still in Potential Babble Mode, then.  Just shut up, you idiot.

'Ha ha!  You are a scream, Kathryn.  Oh, yes, it is good to be back.  And I am enjoying this party very much.  Now, listen, as I was saying, I would love to show you more of the country.  Langtuhn Hemblu is keen to take a four-wheel-drive and take us all over the place.  We might need a week.  It is such a beautiful country, Kathryn.  Can you spare us that long?' He put his hands together in a beseeching sort of way. 'Oh, Kathryn, please say you can!'

'Ah, what the hell, why not?' I heard myself say.  My, that grass was strong.

'Ah, you wonderful girl!  You have made me so happy!' Suvinder went as though to take my face in his hands, but then changed his mind and just grasped my hands — they'd more or less warmed up by now, with no visible signs of frostbite — and shook them together until I thought my teeth would start chattering again.

That night I slept very, very well indeed.  I had half thought that I might not be spending it alone.  There had been a few attractive possibles in the crowd at the reception, which had had a pretty good social, conducive buzz about it, plus I was feeling pleasantly, mellowly receptive and sort of generally well disposed to men, which always helped…but in the end, well, I was just too tired, I guess.  It had been a good party, I'd met lots of people, encountered an only slightly smaller number of interesting people, gathered a lot of information and over-all just had a fine old time.

I didn't even feel I'd made a mistake accepting Suvinder's offer to show me round the country.  I was aware I might, come the chill light of morning, but not then, not right at that moment, not yet.

Here, too, was a mostly unseen rainbow of animals: grey langurs, red pandas, blue sheep, black bears and yellow-throated martens, their presence — like the leopards, tahrs, gorals, musk deer, muntjacs, pikas and serows that shared the mountains with them — usually witnessed only by their droppings, prints or bones.

The Prince and I visited the towns of Joitem, Khruhset, Sangamanu and Kamalu and Gerrosakain.  Langtuhn Hemblu trundled the old Land Cruiser slowly through dozens of huddled villages where people stopped and gri

The rhododendron bushes flourished everywhere in the lower valleys, their leaves glossy, thick and so deeply green they were nearly black.  The valleys had once been much more heavily forested, and here and there mixed woods still lay across the folded hills and lined the steeper slopes.  Where the forests had been, now farms were strewn across the undulating countryside, their terraces looping along the pitched gradients of the land like contour lines made solid.