“The act of living,” writes Emoto, “is the act of flowing like water.” The life of our party will flow on. Our party, founded by a great brave-heart patriot like Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, guided by a seer like Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, and built to its present level of strength by dedicated leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, is not going to stop its journey because of this electoral setback. We’ll introspect, learn the right lessons, apply correctives, and move on, with purer thoughts, feelings and actions.

The second book that figured in my campaign-time reading was Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Murakami, Japan’s most famous living novelist, weaves his stories with incredibly fine threads of imagination and insight, almost resembling laser-beams, into human psychology. This book is not a novel; rather, it is a memoir of his reflections as a long-distance runner. Murakami, probably the only novelist who is also a marathon runner, states that running is both a physical exercise and a catalyst for philosophical reflection about oneself. “Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself.” Murakami says that as a runner, and also as a novelist, he is not particularly competitive. “I am much more interested in whether I reach the goals that I set for myself, so in this sense long-distance running is the perfect fit for a mindset like mine.”

Advani’s life is also that of a long-distance runner. In his long political career spanning over six decades — longer than any active political leader in India — he has never stopped running. He has also never stopped looking within, in moments of triumph or defeat. He is one of the rare leaders who puts a very high premium on right thoughts, right expression and right action. He knows that it is very difficult to do so in politics, but he has never stopped trying, and never given up.

... contd.