Living and Not Reading?! Pity..

Sometimes I wonder how it would be if there was a school where you didn't have to study for tests,internals,externals,vivas,to impress professors,tutors,your crushes..(phew!).Well that would be like a dream come true for me.I hate exams!Iam sure nobody likes them,leaving a few hard core nerds.But as a contrary,I can't imagine my life without books and reading.Iam not talking exclusively about subject books,but other kind of books.Books which contain fiction,non-fiction,drama,comedy,tragedy,biographies,autobiographies,fantasy,philosophy,and so on.

I love to read.And I can read a LOT!I have been fascinated by story books and fairy tales ever since I was a toddler, I was told.As a school kid,I used to badger my parents to buy me all sorts of books.Everywhere I went,I would only search for interesting books that I could read.I would read in the car,in the school bus,in the classroom,and every other corner where I could possibly find a comfortable place to sit and an just read.Library period in school used to be my favourite back then.When I was around ten years old,I started getting bored of Enid Blyton and other fairy tales.I started reading R.L.Stine's Goosebumps.Everybody in my class would fret his books,saying that his stories were scary.I found them amusing an fun to read.A few years later,in my early teens, I started reading R.L.Stine's Fear Street,then Franscine Pascal's Sweet Valley Junior,High and University.How much I enjoyed them!Sometimes I would ignore homework and continue reading these books.Not that my teachers wouldn't shout at me..they used to give me impositions!

I remember how much everybody was crazy about Harry Potter when I was in my 7th grade.I had always wanted to read them,but never got a chance to then.Later,in my 8th grade,my mother's friend lent me the first four books of Harry Potter.I read all of them in ten days.I was literally glued to them.I loved the books so much that I would wake up early in the mornings sometimes and read.This was when I started developing short sight.My mom had to shut the book in my hand and turn of the lights to tell me to bed.I would imagine myself as Harry Potter,or some other character from the book.I would sit and wish that Hogwarts existed,and that someone like Hagrid come and take me there.Post Harry Potter,I started reading Sydney Sheldon,and then James Hadley Chase,John Grisham,Robin Cook,Jeffrey Archer,and these days I am reading Paulo Coelho,Khaled Hosseini,Erich Segal and other such authors and many autobiographies,and how-to-live-life kind of inspiring books.

Yesterday,my friend asked me to send her an e-book of my choice(she doesn't read much).I did,and when I asked her today if she had started reading it,she told me that she had read just one page since yesterday!One page only.I wasn't really surprised because not many of my friends read.Some don't even bother to know what books are all about.I know different people have different interests,opinions and tastes and I don't have anythin against the non-readers.I agree with them too.But I pity people who don't read.I feel they are missing somethimg very deviceful and prolific in their lives.I mean how can people not read something beyond the first page.I don't know how they wouldn't want to know what the second page contains.Some don't even try to read.It remains a mystery to me,me being a total book worm which I presume you must have already concluded reading so much of my blog(if you have come this far into reading it;))Books can change you,atleast they have changed me.Made me a better person,given me a lot of knowledge about things I was absolutely unaware of.They brought a complete change in the way I percieved things,civilized my english speaking skills to a large extent,and have kept me entertained to date.I might be sounding very pre-determined and judgemental,but no I don't intend to sound like that.Maybe its just my love for reading and pity for thse who don't;)

Sometimes,You Just Cry..

The other day I finally finished reading The Kite Runner.Frankly this was a second attempt to reading it,the first having failed on an account of depression the book led me to,but this time,I realised many things about the book that I hadn't when I tried reading it before.

The story is about two friends Amir and Hassan,and the plot set in Kabul,Afghanistan.Amir is a rich businessman's son and a Pashtun,whereas Hassan is his servant,a Hazara,a Mongolian tribe,considered one of the lowest castes in kabul those days.Nonethless they grow up together,utter their first words under the same roof,take their first steps in the same house and play together.

Hassan's father and Amir's father(Baba) also grew up together,so to Baba,Hassan is no less than a son.For Amir,this was what made him sad.He had always wished for his Baba's love,which he never really got,as Amir's mother died giving birth to him.He was envious of Baba's concern for Hassan,he being just a servant.He was envious of Hassan's intelligence,dauntlessness and the gift of just knowing things,being an illiterate.Sometimes Amir would humiliate Hassan for the heck of it.Just to see his reaction.He knew this was wrong and would also try apologizing,but wouldn't.But Hassan was a true friend.He could do anything for his Amir agha.He has a soul which is pure,delicate and that of a giving and a dedicated friend.His love for Amir,is something which you rarely get to see.

Amir on the other hand is sort of an introvert.He never fought for his things,always played on the safe side.This is what annoyed his father.But that was Amir's nature,and sadly Baba does not want to accept it.Amir was an innocent boy who loved his Baba more than anyone else,craved for his love and concern.

Amir and Hassan took part in the annual kite flying festival in Kabul every year.Amir flew the kite,and Hassan was his assistant.Hassan was the best kite runner in the country.He would run for the kites Amir cut and get them home for him.And that year,Amir had made up his mind to win the competition just to win his Baba's heart.After a lot of strain,concentration,and Hassan's help here and there,Amir wins the competition.Hassan is more than overwhelmed,and runs to get his Amir Agha the last kite he cut.He gets raped by three Pashtun boys,and Amir witnesses this,but does nothing.Just stands there and watches his childhood friend,his playmate,the boy who can die for him get raped.And then he runs away.Like a coward.Forgetting all the things Hassan did for him,his friendship,and just runs.Hassan still returns home with Amir's kite,and Baba hugs Amir.

Later,Amir drives Hassan and his father out of their house,by accusing Hassan of stealing his watch.Amir feels guilty,of what he had seen and not done.Everytime he saw Hassan,he is reminded of that day when Hassan ran the kite for him.Guilty of his cowardice,his ignorance,his attitude towards Hassan.He didn't want to see him again,as his memories rushed back like a gush of wind.He felt dead,trapped and couldn't share this with anyone.So Hassan and his father leave and go back to Hazarajat.

The Soviet invasion in Kabul,forces all the people there to go away to far away lands,including Amir and Baba who leave for America,due to depredation of their city.There,after several years,Amir still hasn't forgotten Hassan,his loyalty and unconditional friendship.Amir and Baba's realtionship smoothens an they share a great rapport.But he still is longing for redemption.Hassan still haunts him at times,until one day,circumstances demand Amir to leave for Pakistan where he learns many new things about Hassan and learns ways of being good again. He decides to heal the wounds in his life that he created himself and live in salvation.

There are stories that have made me happy,and sad.At the most moistened my eyes.But this book made me weep.It touched me like no other book did.At one point,I just shut the book,and started crying.I cried out of sadness and also happiness.That is what is so amazing about the book.It makes you think.Think about,friendship,about love,about life,redemption and about relationships that don't mean to last,or are just destroyed at one's own will.The book tells you that,one can never be completely bad.You can always be good again.It tells you what effect the past has on your present.When you finish reading the book,you will smile.Not because it has a cliched happy ending,but because it has a fair and deserving ending.I was so moved by the book,that I even downloaded the movie.Hats off to Khaled Hosseini's maginificient and sagacious narration.The book is grasping and contemplative and one of the best books that I have laid my hands upon to date.