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.

De-Carbon Your Life

Turn off your computer 

Turn off your computer if you are not using it for 1 hour or more and help reducing global warming. What is the connection between your computer and global warming? Carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere is the main cause of global warming. 

One computer left on for 24 hours a day will result in the emission of 1,500 pounds of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere in a year. A tree absorbs nearly 10 pounds of CO2 each year. So, we need at least 150 trees to offset the carbon emissions from one computer left on always.

World Environment Day is being observed on June 5^th 2012. “Green Economy: Does it include you?” is the theme of this year’s conference. The focus of this UN sponsored annual event is on reducing CO2 emission, and global warming. At present, this is literally the most “Hot” topic discussed all over the world by environmentalists. 

Al Gore, former Vice President of USA and Dr.Pachauri, a leading scientist from India, had won Nobel Prize for their contributions in this area. 

Why global warming is such an important issue? 

The main consequences of global warming normally would result from – Rise in sea level, Increase in local temperatures, and changes in rainfall patterns. These are mainly attributed to increased population densities and human activities including lifestyle that contribute for CO2 emission to the atmosphere. 

These factors may lead to extreme and catastrophic weather conditions. Unprecedented heavy rains, hurricanes and melting of polar glaciers are some of the extreme weather conditions that have already started happening. At the current rate of melting of ice, the world may witness a North Pole without any covering of ice in the near future. This will have far reaching implications.

Some of the effects of global warming will be abrupt and irreversible. If the global average warming exceeds around 3.5% there will be significant extinctions of life. It is projected up to 70% of the species will be extinct. Rising temperatures already have noticeable impact on birds. This will also have adverse effect on our ecosystem.

Rising sea level is another serious danger. If the level of rising continues in the present rate, very soon most part of the low-lying countries such as Maldives, Netherlands and Bangladesh will be under water. Some of the island countries in the pacific region will be erased out of the world map. 

There will be significant impact on human health, which includes cardio vascular problems, lung diseases and spread of dreaded diseases such as SARS, dengue, and Malaria etc. Warmer climate will be conducive for the spread of such diseases. Malaria is now widely seen mainly in Africa. But thanks to global warming it has already started appearing in Western Europe, South America and Russia. 

The geographic impact of global warming is more catastrophic in scale. Presently, Greenland is melting at a rate of 52 cubic miles per year. If the entire ice in Greenland were to melt, it would lead to a global sea level rise of more than 23 feet.

Oceans absorb CO2, and when it is mixed with seawater, it results in the production of carbonic acid. At present nature has provided calcium from eroded rocks creating a natural protection against this acid. As more and more CO2 is produced this balance will be thrown out of gear and the oceans will turn into acid.

The Gangotri glacier of Himalayas, that provides 70% of the water to river Ganges, is shrinking very fast due to global warming.  So the sacred river of India, which provides water for drinking and farming to nearly 400 million people, faces the danger of drying up.

The scenario is scary. 

It is too scary, but not hopeless. 

If we follow a simple Eco-friendly lifestyle we can help improve our environment.

• Turning off your TV, Computer, DVD Player and Audio system when you are not using them will prevent thousands of pounds of Carbon Dioxide polluting the environment
• Use less hot water, since heating water consumes a lot of energy, which in turn results in considerable CO2 emission
• Keep the tires of your vehicle in properly inflated condition. This improves mileage by at least 3%. Every liter of patrol saved keeps 4 pounds of CO2 out of atmosphere
• Thousands of pounds of CO2 can be reduced if you reduce your garbage by 10%
• Every single tree is capable of absorbing more than a ton of CO2 in its lifetime.

So, let each one of us try to plant at least one tree.

The above list is not complete. You can do a lot more to save this planet, our only home in this universe. At least we can try to give our children a safe place to live in.

Children of Agent Orange

 

“The Girl in the Picture”

We were strolling leisurely through the Backpackers District in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). I was with two of my friends - Krishnan who was the country manager of a multinational pharmaceutical company in Vietnam and Vinod who was doing an UN funded research on the Champa tribes of Vietnam.

It was my first weekend in Saigon and our mission was to locate an ideal “watering hole” for spending the rest of the evening “spiritually”. The place was full of pubs. Finding the right one was a challenging assignment. Finally we had settled for a small pub near the famous “Bodhi Tree” restaurant, with the uncanny knack of finding the wrong one always.

While trying to get out of the place after having a quick drink, my friend Vinod had mentioned casually about the opportunity he had to meet the brother of “the girl in the picture” one week back. It was exciting news.

Hearing this, the first thing that came to my mind was the photograph of a naked girl screaming and running to get away from napalm bombing. The picture had become the most powerful anti-war icon of the modern journalism. No other image has ever stirred the conscience of the humanity like this photograph did. This photograph, taken by Nick Ut of Associated Press on June 8, 1972, had won him the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. 

                                          (Courtesy Wikipedia)

The girl in the photograph was Kim Phuc, who had torn off her burning clothes to escape from the American napalm bomb attack, was crying and running frightened. After taking the photograph, Nick Ut had taken her and other children to the nearby hospital. Doctors gave up saying that her burns were severe and the chance of survival was remote. But after 17 surgeries and fifteen months of hospitalization, Kim, also known as “the girl in the picture” survived.

Now she lives in Ontario, Canada with her two children. Kim Phuc is currently the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace. In an interview, recently, Kim Phuc told that the photograph should be exposed to future generations. "Let the world see how horrible wars can be"

Agent Orange

During my stay in Vietnam, I saw a number of people including children with various kinds of physical deformities. Some of them were with limbs twisted and malformed and others seen with short stumps in place of arms or legs. I was deeply disturbed by the sight of those people. I asked Krishnan about this. He told me “They are the “Children of Agent Orange””.

I was perplexed. He went on to tell me about “Agent Orange”. It was a deadly cocktail of Dioxin and poisonous herbicides. Dioxin was one of the most toxic chemicals ever known. US forces sprayed more than 75 million liters of this chemical over Southern Vietnam during the war. The aim was to defoliate the forest areas to prevent communist fighters from getting jungle cover. Agent Orange was sprayed on over 20000 villages.

Later in a scientific study it was found out that it could cause birth defects. Agent Orange was lethal to those who had come into contact and had caused deadly diseases like Cancer. It was not only harmful to the unborn children in their mothers’ womb, but also to the generations to come. Every family in those 20,000 villages had a heart-wrenching experience to tell. Even the third generation children were suffering from many gruesome health problems and physical deformities. I was really shaken to hear this information.

On the evening of our spiritual quest, I saw a cute little boy selling pirated best-seller books on the pavement. I thought I would buy a book on Vietnam War. I pointed to a book and asked him to give it. He smiled at me happily and gave the book to me.

I felt a chill spreading through my spine. I noticed that in place of palms he had only two-fingered claws.

The war is not yet over.