Kim by Rudyard Kipling

The 3" by 5" booklet of 288 pages with spray-painted edges and fronted by the

picture of a boy in a turban holding a staff cried an easy read on the shelf of

the Little Free Library box. One might also recognized the name of the author.

 

Kim O'Hara, an Irish orphan, grew up a guttersnipe in Lahore among the locals.

One day, while playing at the Zam-Zammah at the museum he met an old Tibetan Red

lama searching for the River of the Arrow which in Buddhist legends cleansed off

sin. He procured food and shelter for the holy man and became his disciple

(chela). Their pilgrimage took them onto the Grand Trunk Road eastbound and in

time, Kim's vision, a red bull on a green grassland (the flag of the Irish Mavericks),

led to his father's regiment which sent him to be educated. Kim rejoined the holy

man after three years of schooling and followed him to the Himlayas where the lama

regained health only to realize he had veered away from his original vision. They

returned to the plains and finally, near Saharanpore, he stumbled into the River

and achieved Freedom (from The Wheel of Things, or nirvana).

 

Kim seemed blissfully ignorant of his identity crisis and took on a role when

needed as easily as he switched between native and British clothes, a beggar

boy, a Sahib, a doctor, a Buddhist disciple, and an operative of the British

government. Indeed, he reminded me of the most famous Chinese Buddhist chela the

monkey king who, by the way, was modeled after the Hindu deity Hanuman.

 

If it looks like a teen book, they must be precocious and maybe even enlightened

young readers. The author adopted archaic turns of speech and it often takes

effort to follow, especially among multiple voices. Words like 'thou,' 'thy,' 'ye,'

'art,' 'wilt,' 'wouldst," 'canst,' 'dost,' 'goest," 'anon,' 'aught,' 'ere,' etc.

make it sound much older. Quite a few words I could not find in the dictionary.

 

It is not to say that the book is not well-written, however. Indeed, it was an

entertaining read and even the old-fashioned expressions from some point on

started to sound endearing. Had I the patience, I would've taken much more

notes. So much to learn and to meditate upon. Here are a few examples.

 

When, at a village, the lama told an old soldier: "That strength is weakness"

(p57) when the latter admitted desiring back the strength of his youth, I

thought about my exercises. I guess it is similar to what Seneca said about

avoiding clinging to wealth.

 

A few verses (p58):

    This is a handful of cardamoms,

       This is a lump of ghi.

    This is millet and chillies and rice,

       A supper for thee and me!

 

On page 197:

    The Jains would eat nothing they had not cooked.

It looks like I have been practicing some Jainism.

 

I found these hilarious

- The police are thieves and extortioners, but at least they do not suffer any

  rivals." (p60)

- The Faiths are like the horses. Each has merit in its own Country. (p145)

 

Of course, as the book's main plot is the search for the River of the Arrow,

there are much Buddhism talk and here are some.

- But those who follow the Way must permit not the fire of any desire or

  attachment, for that is all illusion. (p94)

- All desire is red, and evil. These men follow desire and come to emptiness. (p95)

- There is no sin so great as ignorance. (p121)

- Thou canst not choose Freedom and go in bondage to the delight of life. (p261)