Why I Run

The alarm woke me up at 5am. It was dark. A faint light streaked into the room through the window. As I was lying there, a struggle was going on within me. One strong  voice was beckoning me to stay on the bed, while there was a feeble one asking me to go out for my run. I asked the strong voice why should I stay back? Take some rest, he said. You have been running like crazy for the past several months. You deserve a break. What would happen if you do not run? The other voice was meek and weak. It didn't try to reason or give any justification. It just said something about feeling good after the run. I pondered on it. Yes, waking up early every morning is a big price. But the feeling that you get after the run is priceless.

The strong voice was still going on and on. I stopped listening and headed out.... 

Now, feeling blissful!!! 

This is why .. I run.

Book Review - A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Couple of years ago, I had read the book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. It was some book! So, when I got the opportunity to read this book, I lapped it up with gutso. I knew what to expect. Khaled's books are about war torn Afghanistan and how life of simple people are impacted by the war.

This is the story of 2 women who are born at different times. The first woman,Mariam, is born out of wedlock, and raised in a small tenement on top of a hill. When her mother dies, she was married off to a old man by her father and his other wives. The story narrates how life for her changes in the unhappy marriage.

Years after, the Taliban takes over and ravages society in Afghanistan. Families are separated. Many die. A girl from the same locality, Laila, is saved by Mariam .

Mariam's husband wants to marry Laila. He tells Laila that her lover and friend, Rasheed, has died. Laila agrees as she wants a father for her unborn child. Later Laila also gives birth to a son from her husband.

Years later, Laila's lover, Rasheed appears. They meet. When her husband comes to know of the meeting, he is furious. He beats both Laila and Mariam. In a bold action, Mariam kills him. Mariam is killed publicly by the Taliban in the stadium as punishment.

Laila with her children goes away to Pakistan and marries Rasheed . Later, they all come back to Afghanistan to restart a new life after the war is over.

The narrative as usual is gripping. Once you pick up the book and get into the groove, you can not just stop reading. Khaled has done immense research and knows the customs and traditions of Afghanistan and it's tribes very well. Overall, this book is a great read, help you understand Afghanistan and how devastating war can be. A peculiar thing that I noticed in Khaled's writing is that the main characters are of children born out of wedlock. It was the same in Kite Runner. One more story based on it, and it becomes trite.

Khaled had a uniqueness in his storytelling. There is something in his writing that forces one to go silent, stop thinking and just be. The power of the story hits you hard. You are not the same person as the one who started reading it.

My verdict : Awesome!!!

The Last Ticket and other stories - Book Review

This is a compilation of short stories of authors from Asia, published by the National Book Trust, India. It has 10 stories. But out of them, I liked few stories for different reasons. 

One was by Satyajit Ray, The hungry septopus. This is the story of a flesh eater plant. This particular captivated me because of the story telling, the imagination and intrigue factor. The way the characters are introduced, the way the plot unfolds and the way the suspense is sustained, I think this is a classic text book form of writing.

The next one I liked was by a Iranian author, Minoo Karimzadeh, The last ticket. The story is about a poor young boy who works in a factory. One fine morning he just has a single ticket. He boards the bus and decides to travel without ticket and save the ticket for his return journey as he would be dead tired in the night. But he faces a moral dilemma and gets off the bus. In the night, while waiting to catch the return bus, another poor boy asks him for a ticket. He gives the last ticket to him and walks home on his tired legs.

Then there is a story, A Kite in the sky, by Syed Fateh Ali, a Pakistani writer. The plot is very simple. I liked it for the imagination and vivid description. It is the story of a boy who loves to fly Kite. One day, he wants to fly and the Kite flies him.

Simple stories from Asia to make the heart warm.