An Extract

Become The Better You

Chapter Four

London, UK The Archaeologist
May 2019 56

Impermanence is permanent

One

SOMETIME IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE NEW DAY, the plane landed in Cyprus for refuelling and I woke up and saw the lights of the airport. I later learnt that we had landed at Larnaca airport. I fell asleep again shortly after and woke up as the wheels touched the land at the Stansted airport in London. Though it was almost 60 km from London, it was another airport of the city. I looked at my watch. I had set it to GMT time when I boarded the plane. My cell phone showed me two timelines—one Indian time and the other local time. It was past 3 in the morning. While we had travelled for nearly 11 hours, but we had gained five and half hours. It was dark as night could be but the lights were bright in the airport and fought off the darkness with elan, I wondered if I would see the sun. In India, it would have been around 8:30 a.m. Way past my wake-up time. No wonder I was feeling fresh and vigorous. The plane came to a halt after a few minutes and we were finally out of the aircraft. Bundled into a van we were ushered to immigration and were able to come out of the airport when it was still dark.

The celebrity lady with the kid and nanny and companion had still been stuck in the luggage area, sorting out their baggage. The last I saw of her, she was a vision of calmness, looking as if the night had made no difference to her body. She was glued to the phone and I met her glance from afar as I pushed my trolley through the crowd. I waved to her—a sort of goodbye and she waved back and that was the last I saw of her. I wondered how her new house would be.

It was a long drive or short (because I fell asleep for some time!). There was little or no traffic on the road to Marylebone, which was in Central London and close to many interesting places to see. I had never been here before and it was with great expectancy that I looked forward to being there for a week. Alan Campbell had agreed to give two days, or more if I needed it—a couple of hours each day and it seemed worthwhile. It was around 60 km from Stanstead Airport and I woke up only when the taxi stopped at the hotel. It was a big and spacious one and looked pretty decent. I marvelled at my agent’s foresight in picking the place. The room itself was also quite good and elegant. I decided to freshen up and explore the city. I had the day to myself and was scheduled to meet Campbell at a lf course the next day.

Lawrence of Arabia was an archaeologist first. And so was Thomas Jefferson. And then there was/is the fictional character of Indiana Jones who made archaeologists into dashing, brave and romantic heroes. And Allan Campbell was in part all. I saw later when I met him at his house, photographs of himself in costumes that seemed similar to their images—except that of Jefferson. I met him the next day when he picked me up in his car. It was actually an SUV that looked huge and the inside was comfy and stately. I think it was a Lexus. I am not sure.

The car stopped on the porch of the hotel and this tall spunky man got out from the other side and walked towards me and I knew this was Campbell. We shook hands and introduced ourselves and he led me to the car. The driver opened the door for me, on the right, and Campbell got into the car from the left. Inside the car, I got a closer look at him and was duly impressed by his style. He was tanned but looked fresh and ready for action. He looked younger than his years. He was 66, according to the reports and the profile I had perused online. But he looked far younger. He was tall and slim and had a full head of blonde hair. He had removed the hat in the car and I noticed that he had blue eyes. Something that was striking was his gaze. He looked at you and you felt like he could see you through. I was quite unsure how to start the conversation but he was not.

“Welcome to London. Hope you had a good flight and have rested well…” He had a deep resounding timbre-laced voice which was very English and had a very Oxfordian tilt.

“Quite good, thank you. It was a restful night.” I did not mention that I had spent almost three-quarters of the day sightseeing.

“That’s very good. You ready for a round of golf?” He asked me, looking at my dress—I was dressed appropriately, a t-shirt with collars, a plain maroon trouser and even golf shoes.

“Ready as ever,” I replied with a smile. “I hope this will do?”

“Sure… sure… you are dressed for the occasion. And how long have you been playing?”

“Now and then… Not a regular though and I have a handicap of 15 or so…” I was sheepish as I thought it was quite pitiable.

But he laughed out loud and his laughter was infectious. I smiled with him.

“That’s pretty good. Pretty good. I myself am about 20… so that means you will walk all over me…” He was taller than me. More than 6 feet to my 5 foot 10 inches and he was wide-shouldered. I felt he could have a nice drive. But then again, golf is a funny game. Some people who have a wiry frame and hardly the strength, can drive wonderfully and reach over 200 yards and then some with the physique and stamina fumble. I wondered if Campbell was one of them. But even 20 is good and he might not be serious about the game and hence. The drive to the golf course took a full 45 minutes but I never felt the distance as I was already deep into the conversation.

“Do you play regularly?” I asked him.

“Whenever I’m home… weekly, once I make a trip and spend the whole day there. It’s kinda therapeutic.”

I nodded my head. Then I remembered that nodding heads was very Indian and said, “Very true.”

“Do you have any problems understanding me?” He asked me next.

“Well, you speak English but your accent is a tad difficult to comprehend… But no worries, where I don’t understand I shall ask you to repeat… slowly.” I said and laughed. He laughed with me.

“Good… good… What did you do since you landed?”

“I went sightseeing… I went to Madame Tussauds Waxwork Museum… I went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and then I went to the London Eye. Quite a day and retired early to my room…”

“A day well spent… I must say.” He said it very seriously. “London’s got many things to see and wonder. Did you know it is one of the oldest cities in the world… Londinium was the earliest name the Romans decided upon? Founded nearly 2000 years ago it become London due to spelling ease… it was also called Augusta for some period…”

He paused to roll the word in his mouth and made a wry face. “Nah… thank god for London we have a history that is dazzling… whole of 2000 years. Quite a few things to see and do… How long are you here?”

“Less than 12 days… next week I travel to Munich…”

“So, you have some more days to explore London…” “I surely do…” I said, “But talking to you is more important…” “You got me for the whole day today till we depart from the club. And again, we catch up on Thursday, so you have at least four days to look around.”

I did have more time and I was leaving only on Saturday to meet up with Lukas Bergman in Munich. As we entered the club gates, he said, “I prefer to play on Mondays as it is relatively free of the crowd.”

I understood his desire to have the place to himself. We drove in and the driver dropped us off on the porch. Campbell spoke to his driver for a few seconds. The golf kit was still in the car, I presumed it was going to be dropped at the course.

“We will have a light breakfast and then proceed to tee off,” Campbell said to me as he walked into the club with long strides. I kept pace with him as he led me through a wide hallway to the lounge—or the dining hall—where breakfast was being served.

There was a buffet spread but he led me to a corner with a view of the green course. “You can eat whatever you like—from the buffet or a la carte… they know me and what I prefer.”

He motioned to the buffet and then he took his seat while calling out to the steward who stood nearby. I took my seat and said I would do so and he spoke a few words to the steward. The lounge was very colonial and had all the refinements that one could expect from an English club. Very English. It was spread out very artistically with a lot of space between tables. The scenery outside was soothing. It was cloudy and gray but had enough light to give us a good game. Then as we waited for his order, he told me a little history of the club. It was over 100 years old and had seen people of different ages pass through its doors. Legend has it that some 700 years ago, Robert the Bruce, who later became the king of Scotland, had been here and escaped narrowly from imminent death. The coat of arms of the club was a reminder of this link. I marvelled at the rich history of the club. “I have always been a fan of King Bruce…” I said when I heard the story. “You probably heard the story of the king and the spider.”

“Yes, indeed—a reminder never to give up.” I replied remembering the story of how the king had been in hiding when his army was routed and he was inspired by a spider trying to build its web, succeeding only on his seventh attempt. he king too decided he would try and defeat the English army and went on to do so, thereby etching his name in history.

Then we spoke about other English figures who had become eternal heroes. Like Walter Raleigh, Lord Nelson, Wordsworth, Phil Dass 62 Isaac Newton, Doyle, P G Wodehouse… I was a fan of Sherlock Holmes and all the creations of Arthur Canon Doyle and ergo, my visit to the museum. Campbell smiled and said, “Yes, England has its history of great men and Doyle was certainly a man of substance. You must be knowing his Lost World inspired the Jurassic Park movies…”

“Yes, I do and all his works are interesting…” I replied Then we moved on to speak of P. G. Wodehouse and his golf stories, Jeeves and Psmith and I could see that Campbell was intrigued and impressed.

“You seem to have read most English authors…”

I replied modestly that I had read enough to make me an English language aficionado. We had our breakfast, me picking up some toasted bread and sausages from the buffet spread and him getting his egg whites and bread delivered to the table. We conversed on the history of the Sandwich and then had a proper cup of tea. After we finished, we were up and headed to the course with a stop at the club’s office to pick up a golf set for hire, for me. I carried the kit myself, making sure to pick only one wood—the driver, a couple of irons—a seven and a nine and a putter. At the tee off for Hole One, we found a caddy for me and Campbell’s driver was acting as his caddy.

“You look like Indiana Jones,” I joked as I saw a resemblance in the hat he wore. The only thing missing was the whip. I told him so. He laughed aloud boisterously and tipped his hat in acknowledgement of the statement as a compliment.

I stood quietly as he placed his golf ball on the tee and got ready to drive. At 284 yards and a 4-Par, meaning we have four strikes, it was an easy hole.

After I finished my drive, we walked on and he asked me, “What did you want to know… We have spoken a lot but hardly touched on your main reason for wanting to see me.”

“Well, the book I am writing is about life. And as I said in my emails and on the phone calls, I am trying to piece together the past of mankind. You know what they say—whatever we are today is because of the past—and knowledge about our past is important because it shows how we can expect to change in the future. I wanted to speak to you personally to get an idea of past civilizations… Ah yes, I plan to visit the British Museum too…” I told him as we trudged along.

“That is quite alright… I mean, very good. The past is important, true and who better to tell you than an archaeologist…”

I interjected, “—A world-renowned archaeologist with enough credentials…”

He stopped and looked at me and then started walking again. “I have had my share of finds and discoveries and some important expeditions to most of the important locations across the globe… I guess that has given me some exposure…”

“Tell me,” I said, “Which is the oldest civilization in the world… historically?”

He did not stop but I could see that he was thinking. Then he turned around and looked at me and said, “Why is the world so enamoured by superlatives? Oldest, biggest… As far as civilizations go, yes, their history is interesting and of academic importance… but it is even more important to see which civilizations survived the longest…”

“Still…” I interjected. “…As far as timelines go, we have proof that the Mesopotamia civilization by the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, is the oldest. But around the same time, civilizations started to come up by the Indus and the Yellow River… we even have found evidence of people making pottery in the Amazon area… all this was between 8000 BCE and 6000 BCE. You have to understand that earth was just coming out of the last ice age and some parts of earth still had ice caps, other than the poles… This was around 20,000-25,000 BCE. The first written language appeared in Sumeria—in Mesopotamia, and later Babylon but it was an isolate language and has not survived, The Egyptian languages, meanwhile, have some relatives and it is thanks to the Rosetta Stone we have been able to decipher the hieroglyphs of the time…”

“What is the Rosetta Stone?” I asked him. “The Rosetta Stone is an Egyptian stone bearing three scripts inscribed –two are Egyptian and one is Greek from 200 BCE… but discovered only in the eighteenth century… you will see it in the British Museum… The inscriptions are texts or a decree… and helped historians decipher many other writings from the period…”

“Interesting… Why Rosetta?” I queried.

“Simple enough—it was found in a place called Rosetta in Egypt… the name has been changed now… of the town where it was found, not the stone.” He laughed at the joke and by then we were at the 2nd hole tee off area and I proceeded to ready my shot. I had scored the hole in three pars while Campbell had taken five.

We were silent till we both had driven off. As we walked on, I continued the conversation, “Why is Mesopotamia important… is it also where ancient Babylon existed?”

“Yes, but that came later… Euphrates and Tigris rivers, or the basin between them was the cradle of civilization here. I was in one of the expeditions to the area around 10 years back… some teams had discovered something and wanted it to be validated… It was some stone implements from 2000 years ago. Carbon dating gave the dates… But it was an important discovery…”

“Mesopotamia was the place which saw many civilizations flourish – the Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians… This civilization is famous because it is mentioned in the holy books and also because of Hammurabi’s Code. That is quite relevant even today because courts all over the world follow its tenets, albeit modified to suit the current scenario…”

“Of course, his code of an eye for an eye is pretty famous…” I said. “We cannot take the laws at face value. Even in those days, a rich man could avoid punishment if he paid a fee for an equivalent crime for which a poorer man could lose his life… but that apart, some people believe that the ancient Sumerian, Ur-Nammu, had promulgated such laws even before Hammurabi…”

Campbell tripped and wobbled, and then regained his posture and stopped, and told me, “It was Gandhi, wasn’t it, who later said, an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind?”

“Yes, indeed,” I replied.

We started walking again. “There was another important development during the Babylonians… The Hanging Gardens, which legend has it that it was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world… But of course, we have no proof of that…” He went silent for a moment and then continued, “Funny thing is that the Pyramids of Egypt were built almost 800 years before the Hanging Gardens but the Pyramids still exist…”

“But we have written proof that it existed.” I countered.

“Nothing like the real thing…” He answered wistfully. I was silent as I tried to imagine the Hanging Gardens in all its splendour in modern-day Iraq or the surrounding area and could see it being a rage among tourists, if the war of recent years had spared it. The Hanging Gardens of Mumbai, South Mumbai or Malabar Hills, also has a history of over 100 years and is a lovely place offering a panoramic view of the sunset in the Arabian Sea.

I told Campbell who had heard of it.

We spoke on and off as we covered the fifth and sixth holes. It was when we had taken our drives for the seventh hole he remarked, “No matter what civilizations came first, the fact is whom do we remember the most?”

“The Greeks?” I asked.

“Yes, definitely the Greeks… Egypt, Rome, Aztecs… Did you know the first peace treaty of its kind was first signed by the Egyptians and the Hittites? This was an Indo-European civilization of Eastern Europe and somehow, they are mentioned in the holy books too. The civilization ruled for centuries – they even became a part of the future Mesopotamia civilization… yet…” “…They did not build anything of importance?” “They did but not as long-lived and remarkable as the Pyramids… so many things…” He said and then continued as we trudged along, “Egyptian history is fascinating because of so many things. They were conquered by the Greeks… Did you know Cleopatra was a Greek?” And he continued, “Then the Romans took over…”

“Interesting, yes, but the dynamics of world politics were changing… tell me, how is it that Egypt being in Africa, was unable to influence the rest of Africa… why was it called the dark continent till late…?” I asked as the question had been rankling me for a long time.

He was silent for a few seconds and then said, “Why was the Amazon unexplored or conquered while civilizations flourished in the west, right in South America and Mesoamerica? I think the deep forests and some knowledge that it wasn’t worth the trouble prevented the monarchs from extending their empires southwards.” The answer was expected but not satisfactory. Then he spoke about the Egyptian Civilization.

“Experts have found stone paintings that show that the first time the hunter-gatherer was settling down to becoming a farmer was somewhere between 10,000 BCE and 8,000 BCE. They chose the banks of the Nile. Some settled in the lower part of the river and some in the upper part. Trial and error, annual floodings and so on made them move to the most rewarding areas and it was the same everywhere. And once they had planted themselves and communities grew and expanded. Then the earliest kings made their appearance… that was nearly 3000-4000 years ago. It took another 500 years before the Egyptian kings made their appearance.”

“All this reminds me that there must be a year zero between BCE and CE… is there?” I asked as it suddenly struck me as an oddity. “From what I know there is no year zero as neither the Egyptians nor the Romans had a zero in their language or numbers. It was, I think, the Arabs or the Indians who gave it to the world… So, when BC or BCE ends in 0001 BC, the next year is 0001 AD or CE.” He replied and I was impressed that he knew.

This led me to my next question. “When were the dates, as in the calendar, invented?” “Oh, that’s pretty complex and there are over 30 or more calendars but the standard one used worldwide is the Gregorian Calendar… You must be thinking, did people know when they were stepping into a new year or from BCE to CE? No way. At that time, people used local calendars and none of them matched the other. It was only around the 16th century that dating in the modern style became the standard—half the world used it. We, the British, adopted it only a century later.”

He murmured something to himself and I guessed he wanted to learn more about it. I think adjustments were made and there was a loss of 10 days or more…” “I got to read more about it…” He said with a laugh.

I joined him. “I guess timelines are important when you are studying the past… or the present.”

“Timelines are important to everything. More so to our field.” He replied seriously. I guessed it was. He moved on with his topic of the Egyptian kings. “The pyramids are one of the oldest structures in the world. Imagine 2500 BCE… that makes them almost 4500 years old. There’s a mystery as to how it was built… Huge stones carried by men… no modern technology, not even iron… No wonder there are so many stories about it… even aliens and more… It remains a fascinating subject.”

We sat down on the seats by the seventh hole and waited as we allowed a couple of golfers to finish their putting and walk ahead of us to tee off for the eighth hole.

We gave them a few minutes to start and got on with our conversation. “There is a lot of rumble across the globe, among experts, among laymen… about their civilization, their culture being the oldest… the best, the longest… what people need to understand is that the sciences of discovery and verification are not perfect. There’s bound to be variations and differences, mistakes, some fake, some real… there are umpteen civilizations across the globe which are shadowed by larger ones that have been in the limelight but all of them have contributed to our being here today… The borders of nations apart, we are a single civilization now with complete access to information and technology differentiated only by a short time period.”

“You have said it very correctly,” I said, “But why are people keen or fanatic about certain civilizations and timelines?” He got to his feet and started walking so I too did the same.

The couple must have teed off and passed the first par.

“People are sensitive and easily misled or misinformed, and this gives rise to emotions that are hard to contain. Something that has continued through the ages… It is by trial and error that we have corrected ourselves but confusion will always persist. The change of the timelines, of the calendar from Julian to Gregorian was much[1]needed though brought about by the religious needs of one sect. Although in later years and only by the turn of the new millennia, the world took on to the Common Era suffix which was much more rational to many. Before it was BC and AD relating to one religion but today the age is immune to religion—though it must be said that countries, like your own, have their own calendar which is still used… So do many other countries…”

“Yes, we do have more than one,” I said, remembering the many times we hear about the dates, especially when the festivals arrive.

“Datelines apart, there is a desire, a human desire, to spread one’s own culture or influence. To rule, to exploit, for whatever reason, this has continued till this date and even now wars rage in many parts of the world. We have formed new ways to bully and conquer people—trade.”

I was silent. And then I said, “Wasn’t trade the beginning of the colonies? We, Indians, remember the British East India Company as well as any other entity of the ages.” I laughed.

He too laughed out loud. “True, trade was the initiator of all ventures in the past. But greed is a human tendency. To be on top of the food chain was not sufficient—humans had to, pardon my words, humans subjugated others who were intellectually or technically not as accomplished as the conquerors. Civilizations over the ages have not always been good. There have been numerous transgressions that have led to genocides and this has gone on till they reached a zenith in the last couple of centuries. The Europeans took over Africa, America, parts of Asia, Australia and there was world dominance by the white man. But things are changing now and while all the nations, with a few exceptions, are free, but the psychological and physiological influences still persist. Like the names of places that are reverting to old ones…“

“Constantinople is now Istanbul and that is only one example. It was interesting that the Roman Empire found its match in the Byzantine expansion and they reigned supreme for long. And the Romans disintegrated. Nothing is forever. It may seem like that when you see some civilizations last for more than 1000 years but in the end, they all bite the dust. For the British, America was the beginning but it continued all over the rest of the world… though it took some centuries…”

I could see that time had been the constant. But it passed slowly for some – those who reeled under the yoke of repression. We spoke on the British and the way they controlled more than half the globe. Commonwealth nations… there was a reminder of the power that England was… We finished our ninth hole and took a break as we headed for lunch and continued our conversation. After lunch and a leisurely chat, we continued with our game and finished the 18th hole by late afternoon.

I lost and I could see that Campbell was pleased that he had won. Seven I met him again on Thursday at his home and we talked till late at night. I arrived only after lunchtime, having finished my lunch. We spoke about the Incas and the Aboriginals of Australia. We spoke about Java in Indonesia and he told me about Angkor Wat and the temples found in the forest. We spoke about the creation of wealth. “We live on the same earth, with newer technologies… the world is richer than ever… creation of wealth is more trade-related, intellectual rather than conquering new lands and people. Some countries lag behind others purely because of a lack of proper education and application of new thoughts. Corruption remains the bane of the world. The quest for wealth and power, for prosperity and well-being, drives people to great lengths in pursuance of these goals. Modern civilizations are representative of the people. Unfortunately, these are the new rulers—who wield the power to navigate nations and its people to better times… but they have short-time goals, ill-conceived goals and are biased…”

“In many ways, we are similar to older civilizations—more educated, resourceful and have access to technologies that would seem magical just a few centuries ago and yet we are humans in that we seek the same things they did—security, prosperity…”

I liked the way he thought. “So, you think… Have there been any good civilizations, good governance that has uplifted people?” I asked him, quite keen to know whether there were altruistic aims amidst all the upheavals.

He looked at me intently. “An interesting question… but one that has always been the crux of all rulers – right up to present governments. Every civilization—almost—has never always been bad. Between wars and disquiet, there has been progress—there were laws as there were taxes… Between unrest, there has been peace and people lived happily. There was vast improvement in art and culture and people prospered. Today too, governments are torn between their duty to serve with no bias and on the other they are bound to make it seem favourable, to influence voters… and this conundrum is what differentiates growth in humanity. Ask me about the problems in Kashmir, I prefer to keep my opinion to myself. Once I show support to any one faction then I am labelled. What is it that they say—one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. But I am vocal about ISIS being a dangerous organization. The Taliban was once a hated and feared group of terrorists, or some would call them that. But today they rule and are a government in power, bringing them respectability, bringing them responsibility. See… our perspectives change when the situation changes. Take, for example— if a policeman kills a gangster, we don’t get surprised or call the policeman a murderer: if the same gangster is killed by someone else, it is called a homicide or crime. The individual is representative of the society we live in. And what is true of the man is true of the whole society. In cases such as this one, it is so much truer… but at the end of it all, good governance counts. But none… no one… can claim to rule well without rubbing off some parts of the society wrongly…”

I could see sense in what he was saying. “Does it mean there is no Utopian world, that we will forever be a divided society, divided civilizations?” I asked, not wanting to believe that this was a future to look forward to.

“There will be no utopian society without education that teaches us to be better human beings, changes our perspectives… things like comparative studies of religions, of cultures, of skin colour, cultures, environment, the past… teach us… imbibe into us to be more humane…”

I was silent as I chewed on his words. “You paint a desolate picture…” I told him with a wry smile.

“No… no… I am not a pessimist. I know someday we will have reached the pinnacle… it might take time… perhaps another 100 or 1000 years or 10,000. We will reach there. The journey will be difficult, fraught with a lot of uncertainties but we will finally reach there because that is the human goal… a Utopian society.”

This sent me off on a new line of thought. “Was Kublai Khan’s Xanadu a reality?”

“You are associating Xanadu as a Utopian world… We know that there was such a king or emperor and he had built a city and a place which made Marco Polo write profusely about it being a marvellous piece of work… It has been accorded a world heritage site by UNESCO. It shows excellent urban planning with agriculture also getting equal attention. Kublai Khan made it his capital somewhere in the 13th century, but it was abandoned by the mid-15th century. For a remarkable city, it met an inglorious fate. So yes, Kublai Khan’s Xanadu was a reality but the truth will never be known if it was a Utopian life…” I paused to think.

And he continued to speak. “Did you know,” he asked me rhetorically, “that Kublai Khan was the grandson of Chengez or G-e-nghis Khan? He was one of the most infamous conquerors of this part of the world. He went up as far as Persia and there, they were known as Moghuls. You see the connection to India? The Moghuls came to India from this area. But what is more interesting is that Chengez Khan was not a Muslim, and neither was Kublai Khan. They followed a nomadic religion – Shamans – but were quite tolerant of other religious practices. At least, Kublai Khan was. It is said that Kublai Khan organized many multireligious meetings in Xanadu… He was more influenced by Buddhism and while his dynasty did not survive long in China, Buddhism did.”

“Which other Chinese ruler was crucial in history?”

“China has a fascinating history that goes long back. One has to talk of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang – 1st century BCE—and his tomb, and the terracotta army, found only around 45 years ago…. A full 2000 years after his death. One of the greatest finds of the 20th century, it still has its mysteries… even now, some parts are closed—unopened due to the damage that can be done by the modern environment. Some early openings had led to severe damage and hence the authorities are being careful… It is near the city of Xi’an. He also built or started to build the Great Wall of China. He died only when he was around 50 and he believed in the afterlife and hence the 33 square kilometres burial ground with an army made of terracotta.”

I remembered seeing the pictures of the terracotta army. And the great wall.

“The great wall continued to be improved and lengthened… There was Zhu Yuan Zhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, who did some work on it. It was constantly re-built by future emperors and today, it stretches over 21,000 kilometres from one end of China to the other end… from the eastern Hebei province to the Gansu province in the west.”

“Tell me something about the Persian empire…” I asked as I was interested in knowing how the Asian empire overran a European empire at its height.

“Like Greece was the European leader in all things – philosophy, literature etc… so was Persia to Asia. The pinnacle of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great saw the return of Jews to Jerusalem. They, the Persians, nearly defeated Greece – as you have seen in the movie ‘300’. Though, the truth of the matter is that they were more in number.” He laughed out aloud. “It’s quite routine to take legends for facts… legends meaning rumours or beliefs… “But yes, the Persians did manage to make a major impact on the world. They believed in speaking the truth. They were monotheists… Zoroastrians… They built some of the best ancient roads and connected Asia to Africa and Europe.”

We spoke some more about Persia and then went on to the things I could do in London