Country road at dawn, Iidaka district, Sosa City (formerly Yokaichiba), Chiba Prefecture, Japan, April 1998, by MichaelI just learned today that a blog friend in India has died.
Anu was a very talented and creative young woman whose poetry reflected her transcendence of the acute renal failure that changed but did not detract from her life.
I won't say that she suffered from her condition, because she didn't. She was an avid student of aikido and a person of boundless optimism. Her medical situation was an annoyance, what with the constant dialysis treatments, but not an obstacle to enjoying her life to its fullest. This was an inspiration to me and to all the other friends she made through her blog.
In a cruel irony, it wasn't renal failure that claimed her but an automobile accident Dec. 12, according to a posting on her blog by a friend.
I hadn't been in contact with her recently. But I'm reposting this photo from February because she commented that she enjoyed it.
Photo courtesy Aikido of BombayUPDATE: It's now Friday afternoon, and I found the memorial page posted on the Web site of the Mumbai aikido dojo where Anu (Anita) studied.
It features a beautiful photo of Anu, giving me the chance to see her face for the first time. Far more importantly, I got to see her spirit through her blog, and through her always generous comments on mine.
She will be sorely missed.
14 comments:
I'm so sorry you lost your young friend. This story is sad and yet she sounded full of life and vitality. What a loss to many, I am sure. This photo is incredible. It's like the path to a safe and creative place. Maybe she will find it again....
Many thanks, GZ. Yes, she was indeed full of life and vitality. I'm glad I knew her.
I also enjoyed this haunting photo too, and have remembered it from February. For me, a path into the unknown -- a place of no security. But the fresh light of a new day encourages confident onward movement, one foot in front of the other.
Thank you, Mike. Yes, this photo has many meanings for me, and I think it works as a tribute to my friend Anu. I like your interpretation of it.
I am so sorry to hear about this, Michael. I remember Anu's posts, which impressed me as being so self-honest. I also remember seeing that photo when you first posted it ... it affected me then, and still does now.
Namaste, Anu.
Thanks, Kitty. Anu will be missed indeed.
The photo is enticing. The path is risky. As all paths that twist out of sight are. I'd blow it up and hang it on my wall.
Thanks.
FA
It's one of my favorite photos from my time in Japan.
Michael-san, it's difficult for me to express my feelings about Anu-san because of my poor English. I just can say that she was too young to die.
Hello Kozy-san,
I think your English is just fine. Even the most eloquent of people would have trouble putting the emotions of loss into words.
Michael - Thanks you for posting the beautiful memoriam dedicated to Anu. She loved life and was a true angel. May she look over us with her sweet caring heart.
Thank you, Lone Wolf, and amen.
Gassho, Michael
just recently returning to the internet, and read of Anu's passing. i would like to mention what a tribute and affirmation to life she trully was and i will miss her dearly until we cross paths again. May we be blessed by her radiance always.
"Banji wa yumé."
( All things are merely dreams.)
Hello J.N.,
Shinnen omedetou gozaimasu.
Thanks for your post and for your perspective. Yes, Anu is missed, but as long as people remember her, she isn't really gone.
If she touched her friends in the blogosphere so profoundly, I can only imagine the effect she had on people she knew personally.
And until the last of those who knew her through her online persona or in the "real world" longer remember her, she isn't dead.
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