The story of Pi was that of an ordinary boy of extraordinary faith who went under extraordinary circumstances. It was a story of survival. It was the story of a boy marooned in a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger.
At first glance, Pi was like any other young boy I know. He suffered in the hands of school bullies. He was constantly teased by his more popular older brother. He was normally curious about all the things around him. In short, he was not the kind of character that I'd take an interest in or who would leave a lasting impression. He was too normal and I really don't read books for normal daily-life portrayals. However, there was one thing striking about Pi and that was his deep love for God. So much so that he was a practicing Hindu, Catholic and Muslim at the same time. What I loved about the book was the event that happened to him which tested that love. His entire family were to move to Canada. Alas! The cargo ship which bore them sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. His whole family perished. He was the only person who survived and, worse, he was trapped in the lifeboat with the only other survivor from the shipwreck: Richard Parker, the tiger. When he was still an impressionable young boy, his father had warned him not to get close to a tiger under any circumstances. But he was trapped. He could either jump overboard the lifeboat, get drowned by the unfriendly waters of the Pacific or get eaten by sharks, whichever comes first, or he could find a way around Richard Parker until they get rescued, which was what he did. For seven long months on high seas.
The Life of Pi was a great story about human faith. When all is lost, when there is nothing left to live for, what makes us cling to life so tenaciously? When we look around and all we see is despair, why struggle with death? The Life of Pi tells us that the reason is faith. When all else fails, it is our faith that would get us through our ordeal. When we are at the deepest pit and we tell ourselves that there is no way in hell we can climb back up, faith tells us to get up and start climbing. And that's exactly what we do. We climb up or die trying. It's amazing what faith can do to a person's life. Even if there is no guarantee that things will get better, we believe that they will. Even if we are defeated and all we want to do is lay down and die, faith grabs on to the last embers of our will to live and absolutely refuses to let it go out. Instead, faith fans it until it glows into a flame again.
Do you have faith?
P.S. This was the book I stole from the cottage I was staying in when I went to Malapascua with some people from work. I have never stolen anything in my life, aside from the occasional lose change from my father's pocket when I was a kid. What pushed me to swipe the book? Could it be faith telling me that this book will give me a new perspective? :-)
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