My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Morrie became my coach as well, long after he passed away and found peace. I laughed, cried and ‘thought’ with him, thanks to one of my colleagues at office, Mr. Sumeet Naik, who introduced me to Morrie and Mitch.
Imagine sitting on a chair in your room and looking out of the window. You see patterns in the distant sky and try making shapes or look at the hibiscus plant that has been witnessing changes in days and seasons, along with you, for quite some time now. Then there is an occasional sound of a truck pulling by, on the opposite street. Life seems blissful, isn’t it; to admire the beauty of the subtle movements in the big thing called life?
Now here comes the “minor” glitch. While you do see people roaming around in the park through your window, to your left, you have to make peace with the fact that you can only be a mute spectator of it.
Never again in your life would you be able to do it- to walk in the green, lively park filled with
the happy chatter of children and laughter of those accompanying them. Maybe soon
even the luxury of sitting like that on your chair would become a chore. Even though
you might think, “When you’re in bed, you’re dead”, eventually that is where
you would spend the final days of your life. How much time before that, you
ask? The doctor has said few months or even two years. Who knows? The little
monster is claiming you bit by bit. From the tips of your toe, it has slowly
ascended till your knees. It is on its slow yet constant journey upwards. You
have a feeling that once it reaches your lungs, you would be gone. The monster
is ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
that gnaws at your neurons.
Now imagine having
no fear of death in spite of knowing that it is looking you in the eye; just
the precise moment when it will claim you is what you are unaware of. You talk
not of regrets or fear, nor even of the sad approaching end of your life. What you
talk about are lessons for those who are still out there, in the mad race,
unaware or rather ignorant about the fact that before death catches up with
them, they need to learn how to catch up with their lives!
Tuesdays with Morrie
is a compilation of those very lessons taught by Morrie to Mitch, his “ex-student”
who remained his student till his teacher’s end. And the teacher- he remains
that even now- every time a person picks up this book and reads it.
Guess that is the
magnanimity of few souls who stay with us- long after they are physically gone
from the face of the earth. Fun, painful, humorous, informative and brutally
honest, this book is another important perspective from a dying man.
Of course there would
be people who would beg to differ from Morrie’s point of view with respect to
topics that have been discussed in this book within different chapters, namely-
the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, death, family, emotions, fear
of aging, money, how love goes on, marriage, our culture, forgiveness and the
perfect day. That we are different in our opinions about such issues is only
fair and natural. But in spite of this, Morrie leaves behind something for
everyone who reads it, thanks to Mitch! What it ultimately remains is a
powerful narrative and a fresh perspective of life.
Morrie… yes, I know
you are smiling when you realize that your life has “touched” another one as
you lie at the place that overlooks the pond. Truly there is no better serene
place than that.
-Divya Nambiar
Author:
Other books by the Author: For One More Day,
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and more.
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I want to be among those few...who stay with us- long after they are physically gone from the face of the earth. Very well written Divya...one PEN-full experience...:)
ReplyDeleteThank you, sir. In the course of life, we might, knowingly or unknowingly, be that for someone, somewhere. :)
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