Lessons Learnt!

About three months ago, I had promised to write a review of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (the book was a birthday gift from my friends, last year). I read the book AGAIN last weekend, and this time after reading, I’m getting the feeling that I’m not qualified enough to write a review about a masterpiece that is The Kite Runner.

So I thought that I should maybe enumerate the lessons I learnt from this book; although I should mention that each time I read it, I get a different idea blooming from the same passage; from the same experience; from the same course of events that has been passed on to the reader.

Here goes:

1. One should take time to stop and listen to one’s dreams (or nightmares); analyze them maybe. If you sat still and listened to what they are conveying, it may tell you a great deal about yourself and about what others think of you.



2. Whilst chasing your dreams, do not forget the ones that helped you race with it, or the ones that raced at it WITH you just so YOU could reach it. Not because some day you might need their help again; but simply out of gratitude!



3. Indulge in all possible childhood pranks when you can; pick mulberries, chase butterflies, climb trees, hang from branches, make paper boats, get your knees dirty; the works! Chances are, you may not be able to do any of those later.



4. Love in a way that no one ever had or ever would again!



5. Don’t run into guilt trips too often. If you do, set a deadline for it, an upper threshold and then…let go.



6. “Perspective is a luxury when your mind is constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons” — in the words of the author himself. I don’t think it needs any explanation. Just think about it.



7. Give yourself a good cry if it makes you feel better. It’s ok to spend a few tearful minutes with a good friend. And NO, you’re not being selfish. Believe me, it will help take that pounding off your head.



8. Be loyal; it pays. The mask you’re wearing is gonna wear-off sooner or later.



9. Stop with good memories. Save them; a photograph, a hand-written letter, a tape-recorded voice; all heals.



10. When you forgive, it takes away the weight of the world from your shoulders and leaves the person that has just been forgiven, helpless, instead!!! Better yet, learn to forgive when it’s the toughest to.



11. Think twice before you say or do something; it may hurt. But of course, you wouldn’t know it unless you're on the receiving end, would you?



12. If you know you can be of assistance to someone in some way, and if you know that this is the right time, do it. It may be too late by the time you think you’ll do it another time.



13. What you learn at school is not education! It is what you learn from experience every single day that makes you a better person (although this is not the first book I read that’s telling me this).

To think the author could say all this and more through the mouths of two children barely in their teens, from Afghan... itself is fantabulous!

Excellent plot, and very well played with emotions; a novel about friendship and loyalty. I’m trying hard not to write a review here guys, so go on and read the book. Or better yet, come to me, I may surprise myself by lending it to you sometime. ;)

I’d say it’s a must read for each one of us!