I am reading yet another though provoking and spell binding work by Haruki Murakami. It is called Kafka on the Shore. It is a spell binding and deeply addictive book. It is thought provoking, interesting and intense. This is perhaps the hallmark of Haruki Murakami’s work - always providing a way to look into the deepest annals of the self, providing a way to venture into the unknown self.
I was introduced to Haruki Murakami’s work in a very unexpected way from an unexpected rendezvous with a friend from Australia who I randomly met in Cannes. This work was a Christmas gift from this friend who visited me in Edinburgh and wanted me to read this book.
Here are some of my favourite sentences from the book
“Your life’s just begun and there’s a ton of things out in the world you’ve never laid eyes on. Things you could never imagine”.
“Sometimes fate is just like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give into it, step right inside the storm, closing your ears and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time….. And you really will have to make it through that violent , metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there , and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You’ll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.
And once that storm is over you wont remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You wont even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you wont be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm is all about”.
As I explore Kafka On the Shore, page after page, I realize the addictive magic in Murakami’s words. My friend who introduced me to his work predicted – “You will Love it! You will absolutely love it!”
This prediction did exceed its expectation. Thank you my friend.
“Is it possible in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another?
We can invest enormous time and energy in serious efforts to know another person, but in the end, how close can we come to that person’s essence? We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone?”
After reading these paragraphs from Haruki Murakami’s book The Wind-Up Bird chronicle, I was left thinking about this rather provocative articulation. As a matter of fact - how much can one know about oneself. We try to understand ourselves, or may nthink we understand ourselves, yet we may not find a symbiotic coherence in our own actions. But still we try to seek out and understand others.
A friend from Sydney, who I met randomly in Cannes, introduced me to Haruki Murakami’s work. I find it very hard to put this book down. I find myself getting entangled into ‘The Wind up Bird Chronicle’. It leaves me with a lot to think about. Haruki writes about urban alienation and journeys of discovery into oneself. It is the work of a genius – very provocative, powerful and philosophical.
Shrenik
Edinburgh, 7th November 2007
As I was walking through the narrow Drury lane, my usually dreamy eyes wandered off on to a little interesting shop that was selling away loads of used books. Out of my intemperate affection for books, I curiously popped in to see if I could find a book that I may like to flirt with.
As I wandered in the little confines of the charity shop, my eyes fell on to a plastered creamish white book on the top shelf. As I walked closer to it, I saw the words, Adolf Hitler. As some one who is a bit of a sucker for biographies and autobiographies, I wondered if Hitler is someone who I can flirt with? I could not resist the temptation to see if there was a different perspective on his life. One different from his own that was presented in Mein kampf
I found myself flirting with John Toland's fascinating account of Adolf Hitler. Although much has been written about Hitler, he is a man who remains a creature of conception, an enigmatic evil who makes me wonder about the consequences of an innate intemperate obsession for power.
What would happen if we have more of them in the Nuclear era? Scary! Wouldn’t you think? Think!
India - Midnight to Millennium is a fascinating account of India, written by the noted author, journalist and diplomat, Shashi Tharoor. It discusses the plurality that India represents and the contradictions it manifests. I was very impressed with his in depth knowledge about India and his passionate presentation.
He has been the Under Secretary General has been nominated for the UN's top post after Kofin Annan. My prayers and good wishes are for him.
