Three Cups of Tea - a personal review

 Greg Mortenson and David Relin have written a most amazing book - 'Three Cups of Tea'. Not only is it a most incredible story of how one man's obsession built 55, yes, not 1 not 10 or 20, but 55 schools, in the most inhospitable parts of the world - the highest reaches of Pakistan and Afghanistan. These are places the only ones from the outside world who see are mountaineers. It is purely for recreation that these people go there, with no more sense of commitment than i have towards improving the quality of life of a mall attendant, however dubious that may sound. Mortenson lost his way in the mountains only to find his way in life. Sounds like a cliche - read it yourself to find out. 

I think Mortenson is a most earnest man who takes himself way too seriously and God Bless him for that. He made a promise to go back to a Pakistani village that showed him no more than their customary kindness and he started to feel the need to repay them. Saying he would, he left and went back to his life in America. That was the begining of the new begining. How a shy non-starter of a man made it possible to raise the first 20,000 dollars needed and every dollar after that is a story in perseverance and finally getting plain lucky. It is also a commentary on faith and a man's belief that he can make a difference. He never once thought anything could stop his mission. He did not stop trying because he thought the fundamentalists or the government or the corruption would road-block him. He just thought in terms of the basic building blocks: money, his own ability to deliver and the peoples' willingness to help him in the actual task of building. That's all he considered to be part of the equation, on one side of which were a cold and neglected uneducated mass of villagers and on the other side of which stood an empowered community "for generations" to come, whose women had received the magic of letters and numbers. Never unsure of the last two variables of his equation, he packed his bags as soon as he had the first and left for rural, mountain-bound, unfriendly, brutally cold, dangerous Pakistan. Even as i read, i thought, 'Does this bloke really think that's all it takes?' If i didn't know the way it was going to end, i may have tossed the book aside as idealistic castle building in the air. 'Does he think he's God?' is likely to cross the mind of many a lay-thinker of which i was one.

Either the book is extremely well written where it does not labour over every small detail and delay that Mortenson may have encountered or he had the eyes and ears of God as he made his plans that ensured all his road-blocks were cleared before he got to them. Either way, it is a charmed story.

But it is more than a fairy tale about building community schools, for that could read like an NGO annual report. It is about breaking stero-types as much as anything else. He shows the Muslim world as consisting of people, not just fanatics and hard-liners as we all have begun to assume. They have women and children there, you know. The religious leaders are fair-minded. Shariat is a law that can be just. And infidel is not necessarily a derogatory term - just a word for a non-Muslim. It opened my eyes to a religion and people as never before. I saw the point of view of those in POK affected by the Kargil conflict of 1999. They had to turn refugee when Indian missiles rained down on them. Without taking sides ever, Mortenson reported facts like he saw them from the line itself. And he did not care about his audience - they never mattered - only the victims did. That is why he inspired me - an Indian to donate to his cause - to build schools in Pakistan - POK at that - and Afghanistan. For to me, an education is basic - why should it matter who is being educated. Here is a man doing it in a frugal and cost effective manner - he's deserve my money - more than any government does at most times. I believe Mortenson when he says the world will be a safer, less terrorised place when people are educated and make choices about their lives rather than falling into the hands of terror outfits like ripe fruits off the branches of ignorance. I donated to the peace of the times my children will grow up in.

I must end by saying i liked Khalid Hosseni's writing about Afghanistan and the Taliban and other such stories, but those stories are bleak, sad, hopeless. Mortenson's on the other hand, is not a story, it is fact and reality which is bright, hopeful and positive. The fairytale is real.

Comments

[Srinivasan]

You have had more than three cups of tea and should get back to the blog. We miss reading your thoughts