The Kite Runner

Salaam Alaykum!

I searched for long for a suitable title to go with this post that would make the reader understand exactly what i feel towards this book. After a brief pause, i decided 'Some things are best left untouched'. And, lo! This exactly defines how i feel about the integrity of this masterpiece of soul enriching literary experience.

I am touched. And, grateful. Grateful because when i picked it up last morning i was clueless and a little resigned as to what i was getting into. To put it simply, i had had it for quite sometime on my shelf and yesterday i opened it with the resigned curiosity of a reader by habit. I hadn't anticipated one bit the journey it will take me on.

Once i began reading, there was no way i was going to put it down unfinished. It just wouldn't do. I wanted to know more about Amir and Hassan. Find out what eventually happens to them in the course of the book. The book is so powerfully written, it tugs at your heart to become human in the way a human being is meant to be. There's so much wisdom in the sparsely used philosophical musings.

For instance, With Amir's last shred of remorse gone for his past, he thinks:

'I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night'.

Or in the belief in young Sohrab's words:

'Father used to say it's wrong to hurt even bad people. Because they don't know any better, and because bad people sometimes become good'.

Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan, a Hazara. The book spans the decades from before the soviet invasion into Afghanistan through Taliban regime to post 9/11 in America and Afghanistan. It begins with the pre-soviet invasion era of Afghanistan and mirrors the tranquil yet class divided society. Amir's father is a businessman with a resolute spirit. Hassan's father Ali is a servant in the household but very dear to Amir's baba as they were raised together. Amir and Hassan have a relationship that is beautiful and pure in its essence yet restrained by the class divide that is the basis of Afghan Society. It is this relationship and the change it undergoes over time that forms the soul of the book. There is loyalty, love and true friendship at one end and guilt, remorse and envy at another end. What is most gripping is the transformation that Amir's character undergoes through each phase of life. How the demons of his past haunt him, how one moment of weakness makes him believe in his cowardice for most part of his life and how he initially runs away from them only to have his past confront him and make him atone for his weaknesses in order to find true peace within.

Reading this story is like nourishing one's soul. It is one of those profoundly powerful stories that make you feel like you've completed a cycle of life. Like you were the author's shadow throughout the story, the characters' alter ego. Cheering on the protagonist deep within to 'please come out as the better man'. It isn't a story to forget. It isn't one to mark as read and move on either after a bit of hoopla. It is a story that stays. It is an experience that encapsulates you within and lets you wander through the dusty roads of Afghanistan, to the hill top with the pomegranate tree under whose shadow you can still find Amir reading stories to Hassan especially the one with 'Sohrab and Rostam', to the Kite Flying contest of Kabul, to California where Amir spends 15 years of his married life, to Peshawar where Rahim Khan shows the way of atonement to Amir, to Kabul under Taliban and later Islamabad where he finally finds his salvation. As the experience ends, you come out enriched and feel like you've known this life.

The book is sound in writing and expression. The usage of Afghani words adds to the authenticity of the experience and provides the right feel of the place. The characters are well-defined and are important in their element. The flow of the story is natural in pace and context. There is a constant undisturbed poignancy in it which makes the yearning for a peaceful end natural.

I heartily recommend everyone with a stomach for reading to go ahead and savor its flavors; for you wouldn't find many with so many in a perfect blend that will leave not just the body but the soul satisfied. Even if you don't, Zendagi Migzara!

Tashakor!

Copyright created on 18th October 2011

A Touch to Credibility

When Friedrich Nietzsche said ‘All credibility, all good conscience, and all evidence of truth come only from the senses’, he knew what he was talking about. In the wake of the recent controversial remark made by Mr. V.S. Naipaul on women writers, the question of credibility and its permanency stands relevant.

In an interview at the Royal Geographic Society about his career, when asked if he considered any woman writer his literary match, Mr. Naipaul replied: "I don't think so." Of Austen he said he "couldn't possibly share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world". The author said that this was because of women's "sentimentality, the narrow view of the world. And inevitably for a woman, she is not a complete master of a house, so that comes over in her writing too," he said.

Reading these remarks, one ponders on how as accomplished a writer as Mr. Naipaul could have reflected a long-lived prejudice through his words. There is nothing new in such prejudices and they don't add value or make a difference in reality. However, they come under discussion or thought when the subject has an element of credibility to him/her as is the case with him. As Mrs. Shashi Deshpande rightly pointed out in her article, ‘All writers know that literature is not a matter of competition’. Literature in its true essence is interpretive and subjective which is why we relate to certain authors more. It is a reflection of our own inner self being reflected in the author’s views. Contextually, these remarks may seem more inclined towards fostering an attitude of prejudice instead of living up to the credibility that his works have brought him.

Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ reflects a deep understanding of sense on the part of the female protagonist Elinor and it has been observed throughout her works that she reflects a realistic approach to the subject of love and relationships with truth instead of sentimentality. How it is portrayed on the silver screen is like all other works subject to interpretation and colored by the social situations prevalent then. Female writers bring in a touch of sensitivity to a subject matter and that reflects their style of writing which is natural to them. However, there is a marked difference between 'Sensitivity' and 'Sentimentality'. Sensitivity is a part of nature, humanity, the zenith and nadir of all life. Sensitivity is the focal point which holds together all life. Sentimentality on the other hand springs not from truth but from desire. Hence, sentimentality can reflect the 'narrow' view of things because it is in its nature to be focused on that 'desire'. But, sensitivity will reflect the liberal view of things. Its goal is to heal, to foster growth and to bring balance to life. And this is what most committed writers aim to reflect through their works irrespective of them being Women writers or Men writers. Writers such as Ayn Rand, Enid Blyton, Jane Asuten, Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, George Eliot, Sarojini Naidu, Arundhati Roy (1997 Booker Prize), Anita Desai (3 Booker nominations), Kiran Desai (2006 Booker Prize), Jhumpa Lahiri (2000 Pulitzer Prize) and many others are popular among readers due to their works.

Prejudices are meant to come, live and go. The world has evolved a lot over the past century. The prejudices that were present earlier have been abated if not eradicated by revolutions. Were it not true, we would not have a ‘colored’ President ruling the most powerful country in the world. The best way to deal with prejudices is to look at the truth of things and believe that nothing can stop you from going where you want to go and being who you want to be.

It is important to remember that Credibility has no permanency without truth and objectivity towards life. Earning credibility and building a reputation is a process that takes time but a slip of judgment reflects the true depth of one's nature. Building credibility is an ongoing process and desires a grounded attitude towards fame and accomplishments. Were it not true, a man like Gandhi and with his popularity among the masses would wear a throne, walk on clouds and eat gold instead of donning a ‘dhoti’ and living the life of an ascetic. At the end of it all, it is only about being ‘Real’.

In the words of a prolific Female writer, Ayn Rand: “Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves – or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth”

Copyright created on 4th July 2011

Here come the Rains!

The monsoon season is upon us and with it, it brings all the promise and splendor of nature's beauty and love. As the first drop of rain touches the earth, we squeal in delight for the forthcoming of a whole new season of freshness and greenery after the torrid hotness of the summer.

Children dancing in the rain on the streets, people bustling by to run their errands, the quintessentially Indian 'Chai' and 'Pakodas' in offices & homes and grannies who regale the delighted children with interesting stories. All of this heralds the joy that the monsoons bring.

Yet, there is a life beyond the goodness of this season. A life where people living in coastal areas deal with the monstrous side of the rains on a day-to-day basis. The most disaster prone areas have experienced it acutely. Life there stops for no one. The rains bring the joy of a new season but along with a hoard of other problems. Homes are re-located, roads re-built time and again, disaster management processes put in place to avoid yet another season of high inconvenience and chaos.

Despite the efforts, there is a general lack of seriousness in the crowd. They have by large taken it to be another permanent part of their lives. Monsoon or no monsoon, life must get on and when it is a matter of survival for most where would the joyous disposition for rains come from? When would there be a time to pause and wonder at the beauty of it all? When there are uncountable puddles to avoid and the rush hour to cross as the minutes pass by and you're either stuck in the middle of nowhere in a bus full of wet, drenched to the skin passengers mingling in the scent of 'beedis', coffee, the good ol' sweat and the damp odor of the weather or you're travelling in a Mumbai local much to the same effect with the additional swaying of bodies to the rhythm of the beats that the rain Gods play.

Life just doesn't stop. This is a land where people time and again reaffirm Darwin's 'Survival of the Fittest'. We are typically laid-back when it comes to management and implementing processes. We seek to cross the hurdles by getting around them instead of taking them head on and uprooting their seeds. Yet, their is a beauty to it all. There is a beauty in the chaos, there is music in the sounds of the crowd, there is rhythm in the life that flows through the crowd as they move in different directions always seeking; always running. And, there is respect and an inexplicable joy in the hearts of the people when they make it through another day without losing themselves.

Love for the monsoons come to each heart that has loved, that has lived, that has breathed and that has danced. It is the season of love when the peacocks come out and dance to the tune of the rains, when the trees and flowers are at the peak of their beauty. Monsoon is that time in the life of nature which is the age post-adolescence. Each year the nature is born, grows and withers in old age. Monsoon is the time of the year when the nature is at the peak of its youth. And, what beauty it has! It reminds us of our very own youth and the freshness of the heart. So, let's take that cup of 'chai' we talked about and sit back and admire as the nature parades and dances through the love season.

Copyright created on 23rd June 2011