When it comes to beating a dead horse, CNN has a certain gift for cudgeling the corpse until all that’s left is a bloody pulp. Still, despite the fact that the bulk of its MH370 coverage has been the equivalent of watching TV snow, CNN Digital Reporter Moni Basu relays one of the few stories about it worth reading.
In her piece, Basu shares a Facebook note from Chennai, India-based native K.S. Narendran whose wife was a passenger aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Now Narendran and his daughter Meghna are looking at rebuilding their lives. He chooses not to follow any of the media hullaballoo around the missing plane — and draws strength in his recent experience from Vipassana, an ancient meditation technique.
His note, which was originally sent to his friends and family, is surprisingly grounded. Some excerpts are below:
If one were not directly and personally involved, one could have marveled at evil genius that authored a plot such as this, and the craft and research that supported it. Presently, it only brings to the fore how little we actually know, how vulnerable we are, and the things we take for granted about people, places, and things.
[…]
As individuals, we can do very little. We wait patiently. With every passing day and each fragment of information that comes in, we revise the narrative strung together, and articulate the new set of perplexing and urgent questions that inevitably come up. My friends and family mostly do this for me, leaving me to take stock at the day’s end in what seems like a 45-minute feature of “Face the Facts.”
[…]
As family, we are not given to histrionics/theatrics. We suffer, we agonize, we tether on the edge, but seldom allow ourselves to be overwhelmed. I don’t say this with any sense of self-congratulation or offer it as recommendation. I am merely saying this for those who know us from a distance or fleetingly.
Read the whole thing over on CNN’s website.
Rohin Guha is a contributing editor at The Aerogram. Follow him on Twitter @ohrohin. Find The Aerogram on Facebook or on Twitter @theaerogram.
