Hijr: Again?
"The Department of Archaeology & Museums, Pakistan, in association with the Archaeological Survey of India, celebrates 100 years of the Indus Saraswati civilisation," read the banner at the conference inside the Partition Museum.
Scripture expert intern Hoor Bhat stared at the board for quite some time. They were witnessing a historical event. Two countries at loggerheads had come together for the hundredth-year celebration of discovering culture in the subcontinent they call home. She proudly wore the tricolour badge representing the country. She showed her ID card and walked in to be greeted by her seniors.
"Meet Taraksh Chauhan. He's joining us from across the border and is your teammate." Taraksh extended his hand while Hoor did the adaab. He nodded politely.
"So you are a scripture expert too?" She asked, hoping that the small talk would ease their tension.
"Symbols, actually. Heard we are trying to decipher the scriptures. The latest findings have a lot of new letters in them, it seems. If not words." His voice was very professional.
"Let's get to work then." Hoor was a woman of few words. Especially at work. The team head introduced them to the gallery where they would work.
"In one of our recent excavations along the river banks, we found these seals and cave paintings. The pictures on the table are close-ups of the seals and paintings. The symbols are very interesting. If you study them, you will see that the language, if you may call it that, seemed to be changing over the years under the influence of cross-cultural contact. Our symbol and script experts here have a week to submit the reports that would be evaluated by both organisations. All the best."
Hoor's eyes scanned the table. There were ten of them there, all interns, eagerly looking across the table. Her eyes fell on a symbol. It had the shape of an eye, much eerily similar to the Egyptian ones. Her hand landed on the printed enlargement of the seal. Taraksh, at the same time, wanted to see the eye symbol up close. His hand stopped as Hoor picked it up. He smiled.
"We'll make a great team, Mohtarma." He smiled. "I was intrigued by this one, too." Hoor nodded.
"Let's get to work. First, I will set up the table." Taraksh offered.
"I will grab any similar kind of stuff I find here." Hoor smiled. "We have to start somewhere."
"So, where are you from?" He asked, making a similar image in his notebook.
"Umm… Ajmer. You?" She asked without looking up from scrutinising one of the seals with a magnifier.
"Lahore." He smiled. "It's a historian's paradise."
"I'd love to visit someday." Hoor smiled.
"Be my guest." Taraksh nodded. "You want coffee?"
"Tea, please. Thanks." Hoor didn't look up again as Taraksh walked away to grab some.
An interesting thing to note here is that the Indus Valley script can be read both ways; it is symmetrical and hence doesn't have a mirror image or direction of reading, unlike other scripts, which makes it more difficult to decipher, not to mention the political tension between the countries prevents this hypothetical situation of working together towards the mystery of the oldest and largest of civilisations even more difficult.
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Last updated: February 4, 2026.
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