thousand cranes:An irony

THE title of the book caught my attention first; then the author. 'thousand cranes'brought back some memories-when as a child i read about 12-year old sadako sasaki, a nuclear-bomb victim in japan, and the thousand white paper cranes that she folded, believing they would fulfill her athletic dreams..and the anti-war memorial in her name that the children of japan dedicated to the world with the words,""This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world".And Yasunari Kawabata, whose work, "beauty and sadness" that had stirred a lot of emotions,unnamed and underdefined when i happened to read it three years back-not so vivid a memory, but..
UNDERDEFINED..yes that should be the word to describe thousand cranes in a word.set against the backdrop of tea ceremonies that is unique to japan, it tells about the intricacies of human mind so similar all through the world!"perhaps clear memories came easily in proportion as they were ugly," says kawabata-how true!
i could almost touch the subtle colours with which he has painted man-woman relationship-even when the overtones of such relationships are so depessingly hard to accept, i could not but appreciate the truthfulness of human feelings portrayed.{thousand cranes are the sign of optimism and perseverence and peace, such an ironical title for a "negative" work..}
i could make out the suppleness of traditions against cruel,unmindful urbaneness that japan is going through today:"he gazed at the morning glory for a time. in a gourd that had been handed down for three centuries, a flower that would fade in a morning.."
"he had not asked where she lived.it had been as if her dwelling were himself," kawabata concludes..is nt it true?after all who are we, but the images we create in other people's minds?where do we live, if its not in the love, misery, hatred and memories of those around us?!