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Alex Confronts Andhaka, the demon god
As soon as he approached Nandi, the disguise of his true self, Alex, began to fade away and he became the god again. Which was just as well. Nandi would have trampled to death an impostor, an unbeliever. Sensations of stretching and expanding went on outside of time. As the god shape returned to him, Alex felt like the whole universe still exploding: the rushing of time and space and of stars, the air, the earth, the planets, the plants, animals and then, from the big bang, his mind became as still as the Ganges. The most sacred of rivers on a warm eternal night, the crescent moon forever reflected on its surface. A god walked inside him, he felt it now, it was more than just the physical, though as fleeting and as poignant as the smell of an English summer after the rain. It was gone. And Alex knelt down and prayed to Shiva.
His mother leaving him at the school gate with a pile of Hanukkah cards.
‘But it’s Christmas, Mum.’
‘It’s also Hanukkah and you must celebrate your own traditions. It is part of you. Let your friends celebrate with you. Don’t be ashamed of it.’
His friends had celebrated by shoving him under a cold shower at break time.
