Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Jungle Book

Do you know that you can get 2 books at RM8.90?, yes. i got Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe at RM8.90 (member only at Popular bookstore). bah, you can download it for free from the internet. but, i prefer printed goods, paper always feel more secure, more real to me and it matters when you consider reading as an intimate experience. and the satisfaction of tucking them away in rows of other books, an accomplishment, small victory each time you're done enlarging the circle of worlds you're in.

The Jungle Book (Transatlantic Press, 2012)
yes. i regret not reading this book when i was younger. i thought i knew the story from cartoon and movie. because, basically, most of us know Mowgli. or we thought so.

consider this: then something began to hurt Mowgli inside him, as he had never been hurt in his life before, and he caught his breath and sobbed, and tears ran down his face. 'what is it? what is it?' he said. 'i do not wish to leave the Jungle, and i do not know what this is. am i dying, Bagheera?'. can you feel the heaviness and intensity of his hurts?

i was going through an intense emotional turmoil sometimes ago, a territory unknown to me. like Mowgli, i thought i was dying. because it hurts, and keep on coming back. stabbing, stabbing on the same spot. separation from the people we loved is terrifyingly painful. and i dont know how to survive it. but for now, i'm telling my heart (in the softest Bagheera's voice) 'let them fall, Mowgli. they are only tears' . its just another phase.

so, if you think The Jungle Book is a children book. reconsider. give it a try. 

have a good week people!

2 comments:

ppong said...

this is what i learned, that no matter what, life goes on and no matter how unbearable things are now, this too will pass.

kukuanga said...

pong,
he's worth the risk and i'm willing to bet on my life.