I Am, I Am, I Am

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How I came across this book: A gift from my boss.

Favorite Line from the book: We do what we have to do to survive; as a species, we are inventive in the face of adversity. Robert Frost said, ‘The best way out is always through’, and I believe this to be true but, at the same time, if you can’t go through, you can always go around.

Emeishan mountains (Sacred Buddhist mountain in China)

This book is a historical account of seventeen incidences where the author is faced with either a near-death or a life-changing experience. When a Hong Kong-bound international flight starts nose diving for few minutes because of engine malfunction or a period when the author suffers from debilitating childhood encephalitis - the book brings you to the edge of your seat in some of the chapters.

When I started reading this book, I thought it is celebrating the existence of life (I Am….). It is a positive stroke from the author of her being ‘alive’ when life presents an unexpected peril. By the end of the book, I realized the novel is much more than that. It is celebrating the optimism, the hope, the light at the end of the tunnel, which we can see or feel if we are up for the challenge when faced with danger. Moreover, I realized that the author had written this memoir to inspire her young daughter who is facing major medical challenges and has required repeated lifesaving procedures. I think by being so candid about her own life death experiences, she is trying to motivate her daughter towards a life of hope and optimism. This book in some ways reminded me of my favorite movie ‘Life is beautiful’- a story of hope and optimism.

I felt a certain connection towards the book and the author. Maggie O’Farrell is probably grown in the same era as me – the eighties and nineties, even though in a different part of the world (Scotland vs. India). She is very optimistic and well-traveled. In one of the chapters, she has quoted, Mark Twain: ‘travel was fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,’ and Professor Adam Galinsky: ‘Foreign experiences increase both cognitive flexibility and depth of thoughts, the ability to make a deep connection between disparate forms.’ Personally, my imagination and spirit starts to transcend every time I travel and explore a new destination.