5 stars: Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie, autobiographical non-fiction by Mitch Albom, is one among his various international bestseller novels. It topped the New York Times Non-fiction Bestsellers of 2000. The novel is divided into six chapters where the various aspects of life are described by a professor to his student during his last days and is definitely worth of time.

Morrie Schwartz could have been anyone, but the writer really felt that a teacher would do justice to the role. He quotes a saying by Henry Adams, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." Certainly, this book is about a teacher, long forgotten by one of his students, Mitch Albom himself, now an influential journalist as of today, and the relation that was too was forgotten as a matter of time.

But then came a day when he, Mitch, saw his teacher on the telly, that old man who reminded him of the days they spent together during his university days in professor Morrie's office, college playground, cafeteria, let alone on parks, really going deep on his career and what he ought to choose. After all those of nearly twenty-five years, he showed up in his coach's house and that made him dig the reality of life, of other factors attached to life and whatnot of any person that wanted to talk about. But because of the busy life schedule or the habits we have engrossed in ourselves without knowing, we have forgotten to live. His professor, who is now suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), basically a motor-neuron disease, that affects his control over body parts (he is unable to do his daily chores like walking, have lunch by his own or even wipe his ass), but this inability has neither made him upset about life or death nor losing the family nor he fears the near-death awaiting him. Rather he chooses to view life differently and this is the same lesson he gives to Mitch, who is lost in the world of materialism.

The book has shed light on topics such as aging, emotions, love with distinct elaborations. "As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at 22, you would always be as ignorant as you are at 22." It happens to be the most intriguing line in the book, at least for me. You don't wish to be younger again if you had lived the life, one that is satisfied and fulfilled. "You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more."

It happens that only a person with knowledge and so much experience can ever teach us these deep subjects. Despite being on his last days, he never hold any grudges on anyone let alone envy anything. He let in what life had held for him. That is the beauty of this novel; it gives you new horizons to look up for in life, this life: this beautiful gift of God.

I had cried my heart out every time I had flipped through the pages of this book (three times already) and every time it gives me goosebumps. I may be quite sensitive toward these issues but that's what struck people's perception too, as we all are having the same problem as Mitch. So, I hope they can relate to their lives and enjoy the reading with a hot cuppa-coffee.