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Dear Readers,

                     Just finished reading Khaled Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed last night and in the name of Christ, what a story this book carries. The close resemblance of its characters with the real life offers a vivid travel across the changing faces of Afghanistan over the last century, through credulous twists ad turns in the chain of happenings. At times there are passages which evoke strong emotions out of you as you feel your blood become warmer under the skin and the elegance of such prolific writing rests in the quality that the author manages to touch you so deeply without unnecessary allusions to Soviet harshness, Mujahideens, the Taliban, Bush or the war on terror. In short, the story is like having a peek into other's life led in a country about which a lot of misinformation goes around. 

                  During the course of my thesis research, I unraveled the deep ties that the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent has had with Central Asia. I have written this down also that for places like Jaisalmer and Amarkot, Kabul or Peshawar were as close and important as were Agra or Lukhnow. After reading this book, this contention is further bolstered up in my mind. Rushing through the pages of this novel, there were moments when the narrative made my sub-conscious level feel as if all that was described is a part of me.  

               At times, the words and nouns used in the story remind us of the long forgotten Indo-Islamic syncretic culture which once dominated much of Hindustan or northern India. The food, the dresses and the mentalities are all in tune with what we undergo in our day to day lives. Personally, the most striking resemblance that I felt was the barrenness of the landscape and its openness.