A Letter to Murakami

Hello Mr Murakami,

I am one of those weird yet a die-hard fan ofyours. Here I am on a winter afternoon putting The Wind up Bird Chronicle asideand writing a poem. I thought I will write it to you. Well, I have no one totalk to about books; even if I have I wouldn’t prefer to express myself. So,why not write to you itself, I feel more comfortable that way.

I don’t know whether it will reach you, even if itdid whether you will read it or not. But I have to get this off my chest

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your books that have helped me in many ways. Believe me when I say they have helped me a lot, they really did or I would have paid loads of money to a therapist! Mainly because of alarming dreams, I had these awful dreams from a young age where I would be completely paralyzed, with the exception of my head and would be trying to reach something. The surroundings would be the same as if I am really awake with eyes wide open but some pressure is not letting me to put my body in to motion. I could also hear my friends or family chatting in the adjacent room; sometimes also feel the touch and presence of my mother sitting beside me. But then I would wake up to the realization that it was not real and nobody was at home in the first place and I end up crying with fear.

I have been searching for a valid reason for thisphenomenon, though I have read about many similar experiences and some researchabout it but I couldn’t convince myself to believe them.

Well, after reading some of your books I havestarted accepting these dreams without any dismay. Mainly after my encounterwith kashanars’s thoughts, for instance, when she says “ I have been wonderingand wondering about that ever since I can remember but I can’t explain it. Itseems to me there ought to be a good reason, but it’s a reason I can’t find.And there are tons of other things that don’t have logical explanations.” Iknow this is not a magical world I am living in but those words gave me a senseof relief than the truth. I am imagining you saying “okay! Whatever works for you?”

Well not only that but some days I dream aboutseparating my soul from my physical self. I think your description of it was soprofound that I am able to recreate it in my dreams. Eventually I wake up tobeing not able to differentiate between reality and my dreams!

So here is the poem I mentioned earlier.

Hello Mr Windup Bird,

If you find a well

Give me a call,

You can come down as well

For the time to haul,

There are flowers to smell

Beyond the wall,

Leaving your shell

Once for all.

Caution :

Are you coming back, why?

Din’t she answer your ring?,

Careful,

Your cheek may dye

Trying to swing,

was it worth a try ?

what good did it bring,

Wait,

Can you hear the wind up bird’s cry?

Winding up our spring.

I imagined myself to be May Kashanara while writingthis, yet again without any logical explanation. By now you would have understoodI have quite a liking for may kashanara. But if you ask me about my favoritecharacter from all the three books ( Norwegian wood, Kafka on the shore, Thewind up bird chronicle) I have read of yours it would be Oshima!

When I was a kid I have always dreamt of becominga librarian in a big, not a popular library where not many people would come.Not much of an inspiring dream is it? I wanted to be ordinary person withoutany noticeable quirks while blending into the crowd. While reading throughOshima’s character I could experience what I dreamt to be in a way.

I want to tell you more about how your books arewonderful for me. But it would take forever. So I will wind up by saying: tothis human who is lazy to interact with her fellow mates, who cannot givelogical explanations for her thoughts or actions, your books have been anescape from reality by breaking the limits to my understanding abilities. Thankyou for these mystical rides of your imagination where I can move freelywithout any boundaries of judgments and can truly be myself.

Regards,

*********