I) There exists a galore of literature on planning, management and goal setting. The world is inundated with theories, practices and success stories of people working to make their destinies. Conditioned to this environment, I also had been an ardent follower of “Do or Die” philosophy for some time in Life.
II) I recently completed “A thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseni. I don’t remember when was the last time I wept or was highly touched by fiction work. But Hosseni made me weep in the climax, when Mariam sacrifices her life so that Laila could build a little world of her own in the new Afghanistan! Mariam and Laila are two different characters that are brought together by mere circumstances in the second half of the story line. Threatened by each other’s presence, both of them slowly develop an intimate bond that weaves rest of the storyline around their affection tales.
The end may seem a little dramatic to some readers but it set me thinking what determines the circumstances in which characters of this novel were born. What determines the context, family, environment and thoughts that rule an individual’s life? For Mariam, it was sheer destiny that she was born as an illegitimate child of Jalil and Nana, in war torn country and as a female! Her marriage to Rasheed leads to a series of unfortunate events that end with her life. I thank Hosseni for creating Mariam and Laila who make me ask the following questions:
Is an individual’s life a series of events that have been scripted out even before one is born? Are we mere players in hands of the software that has been embedded in to our spirits? If yes do we have the humility to accept it? Or we want to still continue with our trumpet that over emphasizes the word “I”.