A Thousand Splendid Suns

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,

And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls…







No, this is not a description of Venice or praise for Prague. It is the illumination of Khaled Hosseini’s love for his city, Kabul. This poem is not Hosseini’s. It was written by a 17th century Persian poet, Saib-e-Tabrizi. But Hosseini’s context has given a new horizon to these lines, the story of a country, once beautiful, called Afghanistan.

For those of you who are wondering why all about Kabul and Afghanistan out of the blue, I just happened to read this striking novel by Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns. His second, a follow-up to The Kite Runner. Or you could say its female counter-part. The story revolves around two Afghan women from contrast backgrounds. Mariam, an illegimate child, is brought up by her mother alone on the outskirts of Herat. Throughout her childhood, her mother makes her imbibe that a woman is only meant to suffer; that she should ready herself for a life full of affliction. On the other hand, Laila is born in Kabul, in the era when Afghanistan is under the rule of communist Soviets. Her father believes that his daughter, and every other Afghan girl, deserves a life devoid of any restrictions. Laila is educated in an A-grade school with her communist teachers always imposing the importance of literate women. Because of this root cause, there is a vast gap between their perceptions of life. Although, there is a striking resemblance in their lives – they both have suffered a great loss, before giving up on the hope of life. In the most unexpected turn of events, though despised by both of the women, they find themselves entangled in each other’s lives. And then, they revive their fates which they thought were long, never ending, and miserable stories until then. Initially they are the like poles of a magnet – hating each other. But soon they realize that they are the only company for each other in their otherwise forgotten life. But still their anguish hasn’t ended. Finally they resolve to fight back and gain the life they deserved far back, and are almost successful, but still one last great loss is in waiting. It is a well paced story with a balanced composure of everything – characters, emotions, facts and twists. The backdrop keeps changing from the communist rule in Afghanistan, to the mujahideen warlords, till the extradition of the Taliban. But one thing is common in these epochs – violence. The various wars that are going on in Afghanistan since a long time and their consequences on the Afghan people are brilliantly illustrated by Hosseini. I hope I have told enough of the plot to make you feel like reading the book, and not so much that you have now lost the interest. Whatever, I liked the book and here’s the proof – I am writing about it. It will be a great comprehension for you as well.

There is something else in this book apart from the story that captured my attention. That is Hosseini’s portrayal of his country. Afghanistan is, most of the times, regarded as a backward Islamic nation. It is said to be the cradle of inhuman Taliban and terrorists, a land of emotionless people with no culture and civilization. It is not so. Afghanistan has an ancient history and various timelines of different civilizations. It has been home to various people – Aryans, Pashtuns, and Persians to name a few. Because of its prime geographical location, it has also been conquered by the greats of history – Alexander, Arabs, Turks and the mighty Genghis Khan who brought Afghanistan under Islamic rule. Even in recent times, it has faced invasions from the British, the Soviets and the USA. Many of us might not be aware that Afghanistan is believed to be the birthplace of Zoroastrianism. Buddhism flourished here during the Mauryan rule. Two giant statues of Buddha, dating back to 1st century BC, once stood in the valleys of Bamiyan. Unfortunately, they were destroyed by the Taliban, who did not believe in idol worship. In the 1970’s, Afghanistan was under the communist Soviet rule. This was the time when modern ideas came to Afghanistan. Women empowerment and new-age education started spreading. But these were not welcomed by all, and hence while major political parties cherished these changes, certain groups started opposing them. This is where the US saw an opportunity to weaken the Soviets in a cold war strategy. In 1979, the US began to covertly fund and train the anti government Mujahideen forces through the ISI. The war between Soviets and mujahideens saw many chapters before the Soviets withdrew. US, after this ideological victory, showed very little interest in rebuilding a war ravaged Afghanistan or taking care of it. The nation was left entirely to the mujahideen, which were now fighting amongst themselves for power. Thus the ultimate victorious Mujahideen group formed the Taliban and ruled Afghanistan till 2001. Yes, the Taliban was a by product of the US assisting the ISI in Pakistan. Then onwards, Afghanistan started earning infamy for the treatment of women, banning of every form of art, burning books except Koran and education of nothing but religion. Taliban were opposed to any non Islamic religion flourishing in Afghanistan, knowing that they destroyed the archeologically precious Buddha statues. After the September 2001 attacks, the US invaded Afghanistan and a war erupted again. The Taliban was kicked out of Afghanistan in 2001, but still there are a little signs of them surfacing a little here and little there even today. But post-Taliban, the ‘Republic of Afghanistan’ is on its way to progress – cultural, civil and economical.

This is the hope conveyed by Hosseini in the final pages of the book. This is what he wants for the people of Afghanistan, who have had much more than their share of torment through the years. For those who have seen the movie Kabul Express, you might remember when the Afghan asks the Talib “What did you get by ruining this beautiful country?” Indeed, Afghanistan was beautiful. The years of violence have left it like a torn book – ravaged and lost. But it still has not defeated the soul of the country, its people. That’s the most beautiful part of Afghanistan which is still up and running. The task lying ahead of them, rebuilding Afghanistan, is massive. But they have exactly what they need – a lion’s heart. Instead of blaming the powers of the world for their misery (which is their right), they are on their way to raise themselves to such a level that there won’t be any need of blaming anymore. That is the long story unfolded in just above 350 pages. A story every human could identify with. A story of a wounded country, with hopes of living on....