Thailand

Thailand

Just read Haruki Murakami’s short story ‘Thailand’. I liked it more than some of his others, quite possibly because I have already got used to his style of writing and his type of stories. But the whole personality of the character Nimit really fascinates me. Like most of his stories that I have read before, Murakami doesn’t say much about Nimit’s past in detail, gives only some loose hints. But when Nimit says: If you spend your entire energy living, you can not die well. Living and dying, in a sense, are of an equal value.

I don’t know how much I agree upon this thought. It has it roots in deep philosophy, I believe. Interpreting such sentence will involve a lot of thought process. But at the same time, as an ordinary person, I think there’s some point in it.

Some people say that one should live life to the fullest. Enjoy every moment of it and try to never regret. I think what Nimit says is somewhat similar to what the above mentioned life-loving people want to say, but in different words. He perhaps means that if you make a conscious effort to live, you might not live your life well, and hence, you may not die well.

About the same thought, there’s the example of polar bear given in the story. Polar bears mate only once a year and rest of the year they never see each other, literally. (I don’t know the facts for sure; the story is to be taken just for the sake of understanding.) And when Nimit asks his employer: Then why do they exist? The employer simply replies by asking: Then tell me, why do we exist?

I think what all that means is that life doesn’t necessarily have to have a meaning. Don’t try to push yourself unnecessarily into each and every detail. It will only harm you from inside and that uneasy feeling will never let you die peacefully. You should live life by accepting and living in harmony with the limitations of life. In that sense living (by accepting the life the way it is) and dying (by ceasing to exist peacefully after a peaceful journey) are of an equal value.