The Lighter Side of Death

“Hi I am Art Buchwald and I just died” These were the first words of Art Buchwald “after his death” on January 17, 2007.

On January 18, 2007, the day after his death, “New York Times” posted in its website a video obituary of Art Buchwald, in which he had appeared with a smiling face and announced the world that he had “just died”. Yes, the genius had his last laugh.

Art Buchwald was the most famous political humorist who won Pulitzer Prize in the year 1982, for his outstanding commentary. He wrote in “Washington Post”, which was carried by many other papers also as a syndicated column. His column was published in more than 500 newspapers all over the world (including “The Hindu” in India).

The octogenarian columnist was suffering from various ailments. His right leg was amputated and his kidney was failing. He had to undergo dialysis several times a week to keep him alive. He told his doctor “I don’t see any future in this and I don’t want to do dialysis any more”. The doctors gave him just three weeks to live without dialysis and he had moved into a hospice expecting to “go quietly into the night”. But he started getting better and his kidneys started working again in a medical miracle. He lived nearly a year after that.

According to him, he was the “only person who became famous for dying”. He wrote in his column “I never realized dying was so much fun”.  He concluded his column with these words “The moral of the story is: Never trust your kidneys”. 

Then he started writing his last book “Too Soon to Say Goodbye”. The book has a lot of his trademark one-liners. “Dying isn’t hard” he writes, “Getting paid by Medicare is”.

Art Buchwald was one of the greatest humorists and he could laugh even in face of death.

Romeo Error 

In the famous Shakespearian tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” an error in judgment on the part of Romeo causes the death of Romeo and Juliet. On the day of her planned marriage to Paris, Juliet seeks the advice of Friar Lawrence to escape from it. He advises her to take a “sleeping potion”, which would make her unconscious and make her look as though she was dead. Romeo comes to know about Juliet’s “death” and rushes back to Verona to be with her. On his way back he buys some deadly poison. He goes near Juliet and kisses her for a last time and with the words “Thus with a kiss I die” he drinks the poison and dies.

When Juliet wakes up she comes to know of what happened. She takes the dagger of Romeo and kills herself. If Romeo had not committed the error of assuming that Juliet was dead, both of them would have lived.

There is a very famous book called “Romeo Error – A matter of Life and Death” written by Dr.Lyall Watson. In this book he cites a lot of such mistakes made in the medical world and tries to understand the reason behind them. In this fascinating book he tries to define what is the difference between life and death. He writes, “Romeo Error is still being made – and it will continue to be made because the differences between life and death are blurred by our current inability to define either state with any clarity”.

The Coffins and the Mummies

During my trip to Ghana, I had the opportunity to visit the National Museum in the city of Accra, where I had seen a few brightly colored coffins. In the Ghanaian tribal tradition, funeral was not only a time for mourning, but also for celebration. The coffins are made in exotic designs and colors. Many a time the coffin is reflected the dead person’s life. For example, if the person was a driver, his coffin may be made in the shape of a car. They believe the coffin is going to act as a vehicle and home for the dead person in the afterlife.

       

Another well-known tradition is the Egyptian Mummies. The mummies are first embalmed, wrapped in bandages and then kept inside beautiful human shaped coffins. I have seen many such beautiful coffins and mummies in the British Museum. This art of embalming and mummification is at least 5000 years old. This tradition was related to the beliefs of ancient Egyptians concerning the afterlife and was intended to safeguard the fate of the soul of the departed from evil spirits.

‘Dying is very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it” – Somerset Maugham

“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve it through not dying” – Woody Allen

Aftermath of Fukushima

I have visited Japan several times. But I consider my visit to Japan in March 2011, just a few days after the greatest tragedy of modern Japan, was a significant one.

Japan suffered the biggest disaster in 65 years after Hiroshima at 3PM on March 11th 2011 when a massive earthquake of magnitude 9 and a 40 meter high tsunami devastated the city of Fukushima and its nuclear reactors resulting in the huge loss of life and contamination of the environment with radiation.

Most of the foreigners in Tokyo were leaving the Japan and many countries had closed their embassies due to safety reasons. There was virtually an exodus taking place. Many governments had banned entry of Japanese food to their respective countries for fear of radioactive contamination of imported foodstuff.

Every day, the media was full of news about the increasing radiation levels in Tokyo city.

In these circumstances I landed in Narita. I found the immigration counters for foreign passport holders were deserted and I was one of the four foreigners arriving by the Singapore Airlines flight.

I reached Tokyo Kenshu Center of AOTS, where I had reserved room for my stay. I was received by the staff of TKC with disbelief. Many of them came to me asking whether I was not afraid of visiting Tokyo at that time. “If it is safe for you to be here, it is safe for me too”, I replied.

The day I landed there, Tokyo Water Bureau announced that the tap water was contaminated by radiation level, more than twice the recommended limit for infants. The local government had arranged to supply bottled mineral water to each household in Tokyo where infants needed safe drinking water.

Some of the problems I have seen in Tokyo during that visit were unprecedented. Many Metro trains were cancelled as a measure to conserve electricity.  In most of the stations and buildings escalators were not operational. Most of the vending machines were dead (Japan has the highest population of vending machines in the world).  Many pubs were deserted in the evenings. Shops were closed early. Most of the adult entertainment places in Shinjuku and Ueno were virtually not functioning.

In many cities people have taken a spontaneous decision not to have “Hanami” sessions to celebrate the imminent arrival of spring and the Sakura (Cherry blossom).  “Hanami” is an activity when small groups of people organize some kind of picnics under the Cherry trees. They enjoy viewing the flowers and gulp down bottles of beer and “Sake” and recite poems in praise of the spring and the Sakura.

Even after nearly two weeks, on almost every day, several high-intensity aftershocks of the major earthquake could be felt in Tokyo.

Actually it was not a consciously courageous decision on my part to visit Tokyo during the disaster time. My trip was planned at least a month earlier and I had to attend a very important business meeting. My host also did not expect me to stick to that schedule.

But later I realized that it was a wise decision, not to postpone my trip and that particular visit was seen by all my Japanese friends as a thoughtful one since they considered my visit as a sign of showing my solidarity with them while they were suffering, during the time of one of the greatest tragedies, Japan had to undergo.

What impressed me most was the dignified response shown by the Japanese people in facing the disaster. It was an unbelievable experience to see how the people have behaved with remarkable calmness, resilience and solidarity during those difficult times.

Zen Buddhism teaches Japanese people to “bear the unbearable” with a stoic approach.  This is deeply and culturally embedded in the Japanese psyche.

I am sure; this quiet determination shown by the Japanese people will go a long way in aiding the nation in its reconstruction efforts.