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Bakhtiyar Ali
190
the nature of those he was
visiting, and they in turn
knew something about his
nature and obsessions. But
there was still an opening,
there was still a way, and
he hoped that he could
successfully complete his
mission. He had left their
last encounter with a good
impression, and he held on
to that good impression
during the arduous climb.
Walking up the proud and
rugged mountain, he was
certain that although his
life had been chequered
with bad deeds and
cowardly ruses, he himself
was neither cruel nor
mean-spirited. Despite all
his evil deeds, there had
been good moments in
his life. There had been
moments when he had
wanted to be something
else, wanted to snatch
his soul out of the Devil’s
hands and wash it clean.
But he knew his spirit had
never been free, and he
was not afraid to admit it.
‘I am not a free spirit,’ he
would say.
The
village
he
was
walking towards, small
and invisible, was sunk
between the mountains.
It was like a prison or a
place of exile. Only three
men lived there, in one
of the villages destroyed
in the 1980s. The village
used to belong to Sahar
Agha, whom, of course,
we all know today as the
Baron of Imagination. The
Baron had abandoned
the property because
of the rough terrain,
its
remoteness
and
barrenness. In the end, at
the Leader’s request and
once an amnesty had been
declared, the Baron – one
of those broad-shouldered
men who has had a hidden
impact on many things in