Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

ut she did not explain why―a Sufi necklace?“
She shook her head. I told her the story of Henri Halvejian, the necklace, and of
Konrad’s initiation at Shavnabada. "I now see another, additional explanation for Konrad's
taking Alexandra to Uzbekistan. Konrad introduced Sagdulla Bakhrami to the Halveji tekke at
Shavnabada. Sagdulla became Konrad’s connection to the Central Asian Sufis. He came from
an old Uzbek family."
Eliso listened with increasing fascination. "You must be right. Alexandra once told me
that Konrad had been carried to his grave by his Halveji brethren. And, finally, I own a diary of
Konrad’s journey to China with beautiful drawings by Konrad. In one of his letters he asks
Alexandra whether, one day, she would accompany him to Central Asia. On his China trip he
searched for connections between the Sufi and China. Now I begin to understand these
references."
Excited, I interrupted her. "My father told me of this diary. Otto and Konrad put it
together in 1913. I did not know that it survived their flight from St. Petersburg. I must see it!"
She smiled about my excitement. "I will bring it to you. The people who took over their
apartment in St. Petersburg saved it and finally returned it to me."
And Sophia, Alexandra’s Georgian child? I looked at her photograph. Visually she had
nothing in common with either Eliso or Alexandra. "What was Sophia like? To Otto she was his
little sister. Alexandra only made a few comments about her in her letters. I have no feeling
who she was. Was she the Chavchavadze woman? The granddaughter who inherited
Tamunia-Deda’s softer, conformist side?"
Eliso turned serious. "My mother was an unhappy person. After Otto had left and
Alexandra realized that she had neglected him for years, Alexandra cared for Sophia with great
devotion. But they never enjoyed an exceptionally close mother-daughter relationship. Of
course, this is all before my time. My father’s death was a great loss for Sophia. She had
bloomed under his kind guidance, and suddenly he was gone. My mother was thirty-six when
he died."
Eliso replaced the smoking candle, which had burnt down. Pensively she touched her
lips. "Since you know of Dato Ortaladze—he married Sophia in 1946. Against all odds they had
a very happy marriage."
Eliso looked into space and then smiled. "Dato was touching in the way he loved me. By
then I looked very much like young Alexandra. "
I shook my head. What an archetypal confusion. Dato who—at least according to
Persephone’s prophesy—was destined to seek his death in Alexandra’s arms, and whose
return Alexandra feared for a long time—married Sophia, Alexandra’s Georgian daughter. Soft,
pliant, Chavchavadze-Sophia had to carry the burden of Alexandra’s and Dato’s karmic
entanglement. And growing Eliso had become the spitting image of the young Alexandra he
had once loved!
Eliso was observing me. I looked at her. "How much do you know about the relationship
between Dato—and Alexandra?"
She lowered her eyes. "You mean the story of her abduction?"
"Yes, and about Persephone’s prophesy after the abduction?"
Startled, she frowned. "You know about that? How could you have heard about it―from
Otto?"
"In a weak moment, on a ride to Shuamta, Konrad told Otto about Alexandra’s fear of
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