Where Jesus walked, so did Hercules, Solomon and Sheba, Alexandra the Great, Cleopatra and Napoleon. So did Mohammad and Moses. For centuries a battleground for Christians, Muslims and Jews, this land remains under dispute, while turn-of-the-century ‘messiahs’,
Yasser Arafat and Binyamin Netanyahu, conduct endless peace talks. Here walks too, our author, capturing a sliver of history, where soldiers and civilians, Kalashnikovs and tourist souvenirs exist precariously in a desert charged with electricity. Waiting for the next fuse.

A group of amiable Bombay cops in khaki, looking like a bunch of yellowing bananas under a shady tree. A lean fair-skinned gentleman in a T-shirt, cotton jacket and signature Ray-Bans darts around the pavement outside, his eyes sizing you up like a bouncer at a night club entrance.