A thousand Splendid Suns

I read Kite Runners long- long time back, the plot is there somewhere in the back of my mind but the thing I remember most about the book is the innocence of childhood friendship, losing it & the scars it leaves behind – a very poignant tale which reverberates in your heart a long time after you have kept the book down. Nikita read it in her summer hols & loved it. She is 15 – since then she has been after us to buy “A thousand splendid Suns”. She went back to her boarding but I got hold of the book in our library last week – I finished it in 2 sittings.

This is a book which tells you the life of 2 women in a war torn Afghanistan from 1973 to 2003. 30 years of Afghanistan (Kabul) seen through the eyes, heart n soul of Mariam & Laila. While the warlords of Mujahedeen & Taliban set rules of living outside the house the man of the house sets the rule inside the house – rules for the women. Religion, rather its interpretation is fundamental to both of them – whether it’s the Taliban or it’s Rashid – Mariam & Laila’s husband. The violence at home & outside is stark. But there are also bouts of love, hope & longing which keep’s the readers engaged till the end. After the first few pages you are literally living with Mariam & thinking ahead on what more can happen to her.

The book shows the impact of war on personal life. Sitting in the living room and watching the bombs drop in Afghanistan is one thing & reading the life story of 2 women in a war torn Afghanistan where parents get blown by a rocket launcher, brothers become shahid because they are fighting for jehad, or a misdirected missiles hits a truck & killing most of the refugees travelling in truck – moves you on a different level. It gives you a perspective on how war or conflict can have a fundamental impact on society which can be felt by few generations after the war is over.

Caught between the crossfire’s of warlords & politics, most Afghani’s fled their home & at one point there were around 8 million Afghanistan refugees in Iran & Pakistan living in horrific conditions. In fact the book took shape in the author’s mind when he visited one of the refugee camps.

There are several questions which came to mind – the first and foremost being, is it something my 15 year old should read? The answer after some thinking was a strong YES. She should know how cruel the world outside can be & how religion fundamentalism can shape personal / society / country & at some point world future. How being a women can be detrimental to one’s life in certain parts of the world. I know the next question from her will be - What next? Or So What? I do not have an answer but awareness is knowledge. The book raises many questions in your mind & children her age should spend time thinking / discussing it with her friends. One should go beyond the Twilight series & read books which pose questions about the world we live in & this is one such book.

Who is to be blamed? Religion – Politics - The Individual? As I read the book it was an instant disgust for what Taliban had done – if you read the Shari’a rules you will think – this can’t happen in today’s world.

I am mentioning a few below: Singing is forbidden. Dancing is forbidden. Playing cards, playing chess & kite flying are forbidden. Writing books, watching films & painting pictures are forbidden. For women – If you laugh in public you will be beaten. You will not paint your nails. If you do you will lose a finger. You will not under any circumstance, show your face. You will cover your face with burqa when outside. If you do not, you will be severely beaten.

But from Taliban’s point – they were only enforcing what was sanctioned by their religion.

When Russians invaded Afghanistan they brought in their rules - women were not only practicing law & medicine. So from our stand point we would say Russians were good for the country.

Afghanistan like Indian kingdoms had several tribes – pashtun, Tajik, ??, ?? who had become warlords & divided Afghanistan for their benefits. The warlords were trained & mostly funded by US to counter Russians. The warlords had their personal interest in making money.

Sitting in 2014 – this is history & history can only be read, understood, dissected, analyzed – but cannot be lived. To some extent you can relive those times by reading a book like – Thousand Splendid Suns / Half of a Yellow sun (Nigeria) / The Buro Quartet (Indonesia) / The millennium Series (Europe) are some of the books I loved reading.

I recollect what one of my prof used to tell us again & again before starting discussion on any business case – In retrospect all of us are the best strategist & will have all the answers, put your selves in the CEO’s shoes at that point in time & think what you would have done, In real life ‘maybe’ does not exist – It’s either a YES or NO.

Wrote on 01/12/2014