BECOMING SUPRA

Chapter 21: Raë-guar

Cutting past the monochromatic grey of the ragged Kush mountain-scape, the aircraft landed one clear spring morning in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Alighting into the pink light of dawn they were greeted by the soft syllables of the azaan. The cold air stinging their eyes wet.

They rented a car then went to the bazaar to stock up on melons and apricots and pistachios. In preparation for the impending road trip they bought enough bottles of water to last them a couple of hours. Then stopping by a street cart they bought hot naans dripping with seasoned butter.

Over the hood of a blue sedan, Bose studied a map, the clan huddled close, as he slid his finger from Kandahar into the core of Helmand.

"That's where Phi lives," he said, tapping the map.

"Helmand? Isn't that controlled by insurgents?" said Ezra.

"It is controlled by the Taliban; I have arranged for all the necessary travel permits to take us to Kadiz Ghar. We follow the GPS and drive south till we reach the wall of caves. Absolutely no detours, no stops, except for bathroom breaks."

They packed themselves into the car. Æsh took the wheel, Bose took the passenger's seat. They were stopped at various checkpoints manned by men carrying missiles on their shoulders, looking stolid yet vigilant. Bose showed them the necessary permits; after studying them in great detail they let them pass. Miles of flat mud structures, occasionally a group of women dressed in black or blue chadors were seen walking the arid land. Their black eyes staying with you long after you drove by.

The town then gave way to crumpled roads that led to the rangeland towards the fertile valley hugging the Helmand river.

"How did you meet Phi," asked Yinka.

"At a convention for Quantum Healers."

"What is quantum healing?" asked Yinka.

"Sentient beings oscillate between particle (form) and energy (formlessness) innumerable times a second. Quantum healers are able to intercept this oscillation and reconstruct the damaged part."

Chin-Hae leaned in. "What were you doing at the convention?"

"When I was in my twenties, my hand had slipped over an electric saw," said Bose, holding his right hand up, "three fingers were severed off. Unfortunately, the doctor set them wrong and botched up the job. I was unable to use my fingers efficiently, I couldn't even cut my food properly with a knife. I was told Phi was the solution."

Bose met Phi for the first time twenty years ago at a Russian tea house in wintery Moscow. Bose was told if he didn't hurry, he would miss the opportunity of meeting the quantum healer. He rushed down a flight of stairs into the warm center of an upholstered room screaming in russki red. Phi was sitting beside a steaming samovar, teacup in hand, a feathery green-plume sticking out from a velvet headband. Bose remembered laying eyes upon her and feeling instant relief, the kind a child feels after having lost and eventually finding his mother again.

"Did she heal you?" asked Hiranur.

Bose flexed his fingers holding them upright. "She did indeed."

"What is she doing in Afghanistan?" asked Raë.

"She's here because the women of this country need her. As an expert quantum healer, no place needs her more than Afghanistan, right now. Hidden within the wall of caves is her healing abode which she single handedly manages. A home for women she has freed and rescued ..."

"Rescued from what?" asked Raë.

"From human predators," said Bose. "Some of the women are so badly butchered one would think it impossible to bring them back to life. Phi is a one woman show, extricating, healing, restoring them back to life."