Sri: Archaeologist

Ship hits on the shore
It was a preliminary time on earth when land was forming under tectonic movement. The plate called 'Euro-Asia' was active until the late 19th century. It was told that, once, a huge merchant ship from the Middle East was smoothly maintaining 'spice route' on its way to Southeast Asia. Merchants used to carry birds, camels, horses, turtles in the ship to spread around the world to fulfil market demands, and dvanced sensory system in animals was always helpful on a journey. The Albertross was continuously showing the path flying round the ship in the order of the magnetic pole. Suddenly at the end of one evening, the Albertross flew away, the compass failed to work, the captain had no idea what was happening, the ship turned sharply in different directions; and it was morning! A ship, motionless, in the empty desert. Slowly, the turtle moved from the cage and landed in the barren landscape, and spread throughout local flora & fauna.

Back to
The morning, when the Euro-Asia plate had been arrived at the shores of the Arabian Sea; the land was fully disrupted, however, gradually the belt settled down and formed very differently, in terms of behavior of people, food, costume, and ritual. Local nomadic tribes had settled their habitation under uncertain atmospheric conditions. What we see there today has no similarities how it was before. It has gone through tremendous changes in the last 2000 years, it is one of most notorious land in the world- sedimic activity, earth quack is still a phenomena over here, it was 1850 BC when the place felt earthquakes, water from the Arabian sea entered into and stay back for forever. Over on a earth quack, it had been erased almost all vegetation in the land. The ecological disaster significantly had changed local life form & pattern. Once the place use to be Dinosaur with Shabhana grass, still it has left as fragmented some places with wild buffalos. There was also a myth around a lake- in 850 BC, when local area was going through crisis of fresh drinking water, another earth quick appears and transform the salt water lake into sweet water in over night, people known this as Allha dam. Allha did it to maintain local species . Natural calamity, religious and superstitious are historical consequences - Nature is religious via -versa, the cosmic force is inevitable.

Gateway
Let me introduced a fictional character- Sri who has just find to come Bhuj to work as an Archeologist at the local Archeological museum. The space is belongs to border of India - Pakistan, the region called Sindh, has maintained exclusive cultural landscape due to natural & political turmoil. The Place originally is located on the extreme southern-west part of Asia, bordering the Iranian Plateau in the west, is part of an old Gondowana land. Geographical locations gets blurred in the sea of mummeries, information - from different places, in different times. Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan what is before, what is after, it is a total displacement of time & place in the mental & physical realm.

Train is coming
It was in the mid-after noon when he wakes up, the train was still running since last day, when he boarded the train the station from Virenda in deep south, now the train has reached far away more to extreme Northern- Western side. Traveling by the railway is slow transformation. Crossing through so many junctions, small stations, many bridges, rivers, forests- every 5 kilometer the landscape changes here, which does not happen whole traveling in air. The character name is Sriniwasan (Sri), who is traveling towards the west to a place call kutch to join as an archeologist in a local Archeological museum. The post was empty since last one and half years, no one really wanted to go there in the middle of nowhere in a salted- barren landscape. Sri took it, to know what exciting moments he could have in his contract job in next 6 years. Salvation comes after punishment, there is very thin line in between. He was thinking & half laying down on the train berth, allowing oppositional force to lay him down and put him to sleep. Rest of the 24 hour he hasn't spoken much with his other passengers. Although, his ear was in the air- one of the passenger worked in a radio station, but not in a public broadcasting center, it is army radio station, a different channel for different people. It sound interesting enough to know little bit of the news from Army channel but his laziness kept him away from interacting more, he felt that it is not a right time. Sri has experience his from past mistake, when he had to force himself to interact with others. He turned away.

Come back
After some time had passed, the land slowly settled down, there were no major earthquake has happened in last one & half century. Now this place known as kutch, which means ‘turtle’. This place is well known for a desert turtle, which also recalls the myth of Kurma-avatar- when the earth was on the back of turtle in unstable condition. That might refer very much refer to the local geological history. The piece of land was never part of India before, because of tectonic movement, slowly moving up and becoming a part of the land maintained a special characteristic compared to rest of area.

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Still two hours to go, it will reach around 2'o clock or 2.30 pm, one of the employees from the office will come to pick him up, he knows delay by half an hour does not matter in western railway, so there is nothing to be ashamed of. Last few hours, seems more longer than rest of the trip. When usually people get restless, but its seems fine and relaxed for him, no stretch, he is in process of cleanings a long preparation for new place, new life. No big plans nither from government or from him. Past of his life he has been into the big plan, the big desire- but this time it is a bit different- he say himself... free from all the illusion and sees, life is still beautiful - actually people say in age of 35 people start real life, Now it is the time for him. He never been sure on anything in apparent duality of life. It is lack of knowledge that makes one blind, makes incapable of seeing things clearly. Somewhere, Sri regrets that took so long to see the things clearly. Absorbing enough before comes up any particular and that’s took him till 35. Being resourceful, before rest of life has began. He has seen, a baby to born, grown up- gets married & gets their own baby, almost 3 generations of live commentary. He still remember the day from his family house at Chatla when Sachin Tendulkar began his career in his 1st international test cricket match at his age 16, It was just last year he has retired from cricket, end of another legendary empire, the world is getting older.

Arrived
Train has arrived, feet on the ground, a transaction into different air, different pressure, This is the last station, in western railway in the country, no more station after that, (only salt & white, one of largest salted desert in the earth) end of a civilization, beginning of a new territory. This piece of land is one of them, where the 1st human civilization took place in the world, the *Indus valley civilization, quite contrast atmosphere condition that today we see than back to 2500 BC, where to end where to start in this time loop? Coincidentally, most of the archeological sites had been left out, in abandoned places some where in the desert, like in the pre-history civilizations of Atacama and Arizona, today where we see fertile land, once it was desert, geographical transformation, over the thousand year, a river slowly, slowly change its track and turns the other way around. A complete alchemy. A geography book from school days, was full of imagination, basalt, granite rocks, sand stone, hot spring, river basin, tectonic movement- these images conjure anthropomorphic characters- they are huge, giant & primitive, full of fear & ruthless - no mercy, its difficult to explain their presences, so arbitrary but strong, there is something beyond which is reflected, but its not about ghosts, the supernatural, it is something that has grown with- in us.
His job in archeologist deals with old objects, the free window for imagination goes through proper logical constitution of scientific process. Archeology dose mean ethnic objects are placed in the museum cage. Actually the ethinic objects are more free to live with contemporary time & location - It is more than how we see them as mere traditional object, which does not limits with in small territorial politics, rather it is open to access as an autonomous element itself (line , color, form) in any given time and space. A simple terra-cotta toy is not an ancient animal rather its also evokes many things with its immediate other correlational element. For instance a white hat with circular fence, the cap usually used by cricketer during their match in Caribbean island, AND a archeologist in a excavating in a site wearing similar white cap in middle of the no where. so a cricket cap, worn by an archeologist, put the cricket site & the excavation site -in a arbitrary relation. Memory slips from cricketers ground and found in nowhere in archeological site, mesamorized Sri sits and look at empty.

Plane has landed
In the north far western side of the city, horizon is surrounded by mountain range, which slowly gets down to the lap of Arabian Sea to the western side. The holy place Kala Dunger( black hill) situated in one of the mountainpeaks, dedicated to the deity Dattatrey (holy god)- the holly triangle, creator-protector-Destroyer in one body. It was told when Dattatrey walked on the earth, he decended on the black hill and found a band of striving jackals. Being a god, he offered them his body to eat and as they ate, his body regenerated itself in biological war-fare. The spices call Bryophylum in botany has re-produced its body in similar fashion, Gradually this place became a pilgrimage place where the devotees still offer boils rice and vegetable to the jackals . Mountain is very suitable place for god and goddess who are straightaway dropped from the sky on mountain. There are cases where most of the pilgrimage center takes place on mountain. There is also army post at the top, since it is located very near to the Pakistan border, beyond there only military personnel are allowed after a point. Juxtaposition of security & god, where god needs security and the security needs a god. Worshiping an army man in the temple is normal.

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There were two unusual female in the railway station Sri has seen, They were more than 6 feet tall with broad shoulders & big eyes, they are one of the very few people left from past, The gesture traveling Sri back in history book from 5 standard, a excavated terracotta head found in the Indus valley site- so much time has passed, so many changes have happened but there are certain things which remain unchanged, untouched. May be we never been modern, from a distance Sri made a great salute to them with lot of respect and dignity to the 1st human on the edge.