The Choices we Make!

A choice of five books lay in front of me!

I had just returned after visiting my daughters, earlier in London and then in Washington DC… an immensely enjoyable and memorable holiday.  As I flipped through the pages…some words caught my attention; Cleveland Park, Georgetown University Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts. I had driven past these places and these sights were fresh in my memory. I looked at the title: Stay of Execution. My love for murder mysteries and the familiar settings helped me decide. Now I could tell my daughter the dark secrets these places held!

So it was - The Stay of Execution by Stewart Alsop. I expected the book to be a cloak and dagger thriller, a murder, a false witness, a wronged sentence and the ultimate justice! The book was this and much more. It held me day and night..! I was spell bound.….it was dfficult to put down…It gripped my heart and soul…It opened my eyes! And for the first time in many many years, I sat up to think and decide. I made some life changing choices.

As I started to read, the enormity of the title hit me! It was the Red Blood Cells and Platelets that were being killed, the killer was untraceable, the tests stood as mute witness to the sentence of imminent death. Stewart Alsop had leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia. However, later tests were to reveal that there was no evidence of cancer, doctors remained baffled, his illness remained a mystery. So it was an Alsop diagnosis and an Alsop treatment. And the prognosis was more hopeful, his stable condition might last for years!

Stewart Alsop was a famed columnist  and his book, The Stay of Execution is ‘a sort of memoir’. He writes with both  the pain and pleasure . First, he made a decision – to shun out future thoughts and delve into the past. He recollects the love and friendship of family and friends along with his trips to the hospital for the  tests and the treatment.

At the same time, he presents his views and opinions on every topic of note and significance, some of which are truly inspiring. He writes about the ‘neurotic emotional interdependence between parents and children” and provides examples towards a healthy relationship.

‘Nature is  cruel’ he says and through experience, shares how one ignores this truth  in youth but lives to  realize it, without panic and fear, by coming to terms with death. And finally the golden words…There is a time to live but there is also a time to die. That time has not yet come for me.  But it will. It will come for all of us!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Death of Memory

“ People have two deaths, the first at the end of their lives. The second, at the end of the memory of their lives.” Raghu Karnad, ' Farthest Field' A chance remark by my grand daughter sparked off this trilogy.  Here's part I. For my defense, I say only this : "Just write the truth! But truths are many, and that is the problem. Memory is treacherous, as distinct from history as emotion." Cohen, Roger,  'The Girl from Human Street.'  “Naani”, asked my five year old granddaughter, in all her worldly wisdom, “Where are my Great Grandparents?  Do you think they love me?” As I prepared to answer her inquisitive queries, my mind wandered, to my Great Grandparents! Who indeed were they! What a profound chord her innocent words had touched! What did I know of my  great grandfather, who had lived and died before I came into this world! Kachapeshwar Iyer was my great grandfather's name. Eshwar for short. I know for sure. My grandfather carried his name i...
Read more

FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE

I am touched by what   Hip Hop Grandmom  writes, in her blog, T een Troubles-3. As a teacher, for more than 30 years, I have closely observed student life and found it to be rewarding and challenging. No doubt, there have been some very good moments in the class room environment, very special memories, which have sustained me as a teacher and motivated me, to do my best year after year. However, there are some other memories, so etched in my mind, that have filled me with despair. I wonder how much in despair these young ones might have been and wonder what goes on in the minds of their near and dear ones. Do they ever recover fully? I remember two shocking instances, when pupils, two young girls, from my class took their own lives. Both were in their early teens, pretty, lively, smart kids. Both were studying in co-ed schools. One jumped down a high rise residential block of flats, in which she did not live. The other, an only child, just tied the ...
Read more

Bihar is in the Eye of the Beholder

 Bihar is in the Eye of the beholder.  (Vijay Nambisan, poet and writer)  For the prompt, 'includes an exotic animal', for a reading challenge, I picked 'Travels on my Elephant' by Mark Shand, a book that had won the Travel Writer of the Year Award at the British Book Awards in 1992. The book was a pleasure to read, it was very interesting and informative. At the same time it affected me deeply. Mark Shand, the British wild life enthusiast and travel writer, decided  to travel in India on an elephant.  For this purpose, he acquired an elephant whom he christened Tara, but who was always referred to as Mummy. He planned to end his rendezvous in Bihar at the Sonepur Animal Fair where he hoped to sell off his elephant, before heading home to England. His remarkable journey begins in the eastern state of Odisha.  As he rides through the rural countryside, Mark Shand brings to life the incomparable beauty and ancient history of these hidden regions. He takes us ...
Read more