Burma...an anachronism

Burma seems to be an anachronism in this era of openness. The bunker mindset of the military junta ruling the country is out of place today. An entire nation has been held hostage by the military generals who should have been held accountable for their crimes had the international community (whatever that means) been serious in tackling their paranoia and isolation. We can only hope that the democratic countries of the world will not abandon the Burmese people this time. Pro-democracy struggle of the people led to the killing of hundreds of people in 1998. The generals should not be allowed to go scot-free this time.

Personally, I am deeply concerned about the developments in that country. My maternal grand uncle was among the hundreds of people from Malabar (northern parts of Kerala, India) who went to Burma, maybe in the 1930 s, when that country was part of the British-ruled Indian administration. He settled in Rangoon, married there, had children and made contacts with his elder sister (my grandma) until mid-1970s. We have not heard anything from him and his children since then. I think I have to make an attempt to trace them. But that is a personal journey of a different kind that I have to make. A sort of quest for lost connections.

A book I enjoyed...

Very few novels I have read in recent months have created a deep sense of immense tragedy and unfathomable happiness. The Kite Runner by Afghan novelist Khaled Hosseini is one of them. The story unfolds the archetypal theme of the cycle of betrayal, guilt and final atonement/redemption. The story is narrated as a flashback of events beginning from the winter of 1975 and ending in March 2002. The backdrop of tumultous developments in Afghanistan beginning with the Soviet invasion followed by the war against the invaders by the Mujahideen, subsequent civil war and the Taliban rule gives poignancy to the story of Amir, his Baba (dad), his childhood friend Hassan, who is son of his father's household servant and who, as Amir discovers later, is illegitimate son of his Baba.

Baba betrays his Hazara servant Ali by denying him the honour that every Afghan upholds, and Hassan and Amir by denying their right to know the truth (that Hassan is his son). His redemption comes when he leaves for the U.S. and stays in San Fransisco for his son. He abandons for his son's well being his tradition, his friends and everything he values back home.

Amir betryas his friend Hassan by not admitting him as a true friend. For a Pashtun like Amir, Hassan is always an illiterate servant who can be fooled and ridiculed. Amir's redemption begins when he starts a journey back to his childhood and to Afghanistan that is by then under the Taliban control. He faces the risk to rescue Sohrab, son of Hassan who has been killed by the Taliban, and brings him to the U.S.

At a larger level, the novel is an allegory of the collective guilt of Afghanistan as a nation (watan) for the tragedy it has experienced since the Soviet invasion. The novel ends with the reassurance that `there is a way to be good again'.

I immensely enjoyed the novel which is also about relationship between father and son.

About

This blog is an attempt to explore horizons of ideas that are not coloured by ideologies of all brands. It is always possible to cross barriers and find new horizons of ideas. This blog is part of my personal journey to look at the world with an open mind and rubbish run-of-the-mill views and opinions.