Snows of Kilimanjaro

There are some stories that read differently when you read them at different times in your life. It seems like you are seeing your life's reflection in these stories, and you find yourself nodding as you read them. And then as you ruminate, some things that were in the haze of your mind's background suddenly connect and shimmer forth.

I had read Snows of Kilimanjaro long back, and then, I had appreciated it for its brilliant portrayal of a dying man's mind. Today I read it, and I see much more. I see how his mind wanders and reminisces and regrets and how he eventually reaches an understanding. The understanding that everything he didn't do, was because he didn't do it, and because dreams need too much of work and renunciation to make them real. And that those were really not the dreams he wanted badly enough. Its a revelation that comes too late, there is no turning back, no fixing it in future. But its an understanding that gives him his peace.

Its a beautiful story.