Stranger in the mirror

Many of us have come across a certain dilemma where we deny our own selves...refusing o eve recognise our own reflection. And a question dawns in the mind- How is it that I came to be here? Came to be this?

We start out nascent in our journey of life without any demeanor, but rather some ideals and principles which we hold dear. But along the way each has to face their own trials and tribulations and somewhere there we begin to wonder whether our ideals are apt and just. we wonder if those paths deemed unruly are actually so. It is during such an introspection that people evolve from  naive beginner to something superior- sometimes more pious and sometimes more sinister.

At some point one feels if they made a wrong choice. But if it s our choices that make us what we are then why refuse to recognise your own reflection. For what we chose- didn't we desire it at some point in life. Maybe because we; as humanly flawed human beings, are never sure of what we want and the utopia of a fulfilled life is continuously altering as we proceed in our quest; growing at each step.

Quest- indeed for all of us are searching. Some of us know what they desire others are only familiar with the feeling of emptiness or rather that something is amiss ans what precisely they are still unaware and searching.

Alas, to recognise the stranger in the mirror one must be fully aware of one's own self. To conquer the world's most nefarious monsters- one must conquer the demons within!

Choices

Every word of admiration may seem insufficient and less for the works of Khaled Hosseini, a writing genius, who has been capable of weaving such picturesque stories of a land with an illustrious and enchanting history, but whose recent past has been marred with a war whose origin has been lost and manipulated over the tides of time. Afghanistan- a land where the words of the poet Rumi once echoed; today is struggling to live in peace. Years of war have tattered its roots which were once nourished by the lores and music of the land.

These lores and music changed into orders,issues and abuse of the innocent. Khaled Hosseini gave a vivid picture of hat can be imagined as the tip of the iceberg of social and cultural desecration of the country under the Taliban regime.

The horrors of those times are still live in the hearts of many around the world. Those who escaped built a new life for themselves while others tried to salvage what little was left of them.

Yet the author gives us stories of hope entwined with despair; for there can be no hope without despair. Each of his book presented a different world; which the larger part of the world had chosen to forget or ignore ; thinking what can one do for another struggling across the world.

Each of the characters are as human as one can be, with flaws and the will and the thirst to overcome their fears, and be the person they wanted to be. Each had their own personal demons and their search for redemption; and finally coming to terms with the truth and shaping a new future with the hope of a better tomorrow. His stories tell us how fragile life is and how one decision or choice can echo its consequences through the coming years, how one's life can have the ripple effect to all others' around them. They reflect how life truly is for many- a long struggle to survive against the odds of time. The characters's own tribulations may seem familiar to many readers, for they are from among us.

From the grim portrayal of the realiy of life his stories take us to the fact that there is still hope- in our choices. We are what we choose to be and what we become is nothing but a cumulative consequence of all our choices.

One can easily relate to the whirlpool of human emotions and relationships indited by him. He writes eloquent tales of a common person's struggle to survive.  

Dreams

Even pain and damage are a comfort. One may be afraid of happiness because one is never sure whether it is surely theirs to keep or rather just another illusion, another dream about to be shattered.

Every author talks of similar pain felt by the protagonist, and then the protagonist embarks on a life altering journey which would write their destiny- depending whether they rise from the ashes like a phoenix or fall into the abysmal darkness.

Such is also true for real life. But real life has an asterisk of conditions applied wherein one may or may not have an ally, and some of them turn to books for their aid; to escape to them, to their world from which they draw courage and inspiration to conquer their fears.

But its not just a handful of people who do so; if we observe closely we would find a substantial, if not great amount of people who find respite in books. To one it may seem like the world is divided into two kinds of people- one who create the world of illusions....the world of realities and those who immerse themselves in the words and worlds of an author.

Those words ever so green which have the power to stir even the most dormant of one's feelings. Indeed words are very powerful, and those which sprout from a writer's pen....the thoughts and imagination of one person whose origin lies among the feelings of many.....some lost in the struggle of survival nd some wishing to be lost.

Losing one self in the worlds of the words is the most easiest way of escaping...from their mundane, hard and sometimes pessimist life.

One's imagination gives wings to not just them but to many others who peep into them, and emerge with twinkling eyes of an innocent kid..still uncorrupt by the ways of the world, rearing to fight for what they believe in...what they dream.