Comments on naijablog: The Book of the Dead

What did you say a while back?.."when I grow up I ...

2006-05-15T15:43:00.000+01:00

What did you say a while back?.."when I grow up I want to write like Teju Cole"....well you're getting there and compliments from the man himself...
...beautifully put. - BK

Jeremy, this is so beautiful. your words are a ba...

2006-05-15T12:41:00.000+01:00

Jeremy, this is so beautiful. your words are a balm to my soul. Yes, we in the west do not think about death as part of life. having recently lost a very very dear friend, I realise that I have no way of dealing with death, with the ensuing grief. It is to your words - about the recent death of uncle and this post- and the Tibitan book of the dead I turn to. Words are like window into our soul.

thank you.

Beautifully written Jeremy.Beautifully written.

2006-05-13T22:33:00.000+01:00

Beautifully written Jeremy.

Beautifully written.

I when I lived in Nigeria, I refused to attend a b...

2006-05-13T10:39:00.000+01:00

I when I lived in Nigeria, I refused to attend a boarding school that was in the grounds of a cemetery - literally.

Besides, I had only visited a cemetery thrice ever in Nigeria, then I returned to the UK and found that people visit cemeteries not so much to lay flowers but relax and contemplate as they read the tombstones, some ordinary others breathlessly grand mausoleums.

So, I walked into Brompton Cemetery one summer afternoon and it was like a day in the park, all generations running around as everything else, about time, stood still. Bizarre, I thought, apart from 3 weeks of sleepless nights.

Once we place our loved ones in the cemetery we only revisit 20 years later to, as it were, "turn the body over" - basically, the premise for another Ijebu party.

A funeral director told me the other day that the Dutch are now reverting to burials rather than cremations, because it gives them a place to visit.

It would not be apt to say, let the dead bury the dead at this time.