“Habibi, ya nour el ain, ya saakin khayali”

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Habibi, ya nour el ain,
Ya saakin khayali.
Aashek bakali sneen,
Wala ghayraak fibali.
Agmaal eyoun fil koon,
Ana shoftaha
- Amr Diab
Translation: My darling, the glow in my eyes is my fantasy of you. I’ve loved you for years; No one else is on my mind

Reading has always been one of passions. My mom used to tell me that when I was very young and growing up in Nigeria, before my sis was born…I was displaying “only child” characteristics. I would talk to myself, dress up in my mom’s clothes, sing and dance in front of the mirror but most of all I used to read a lot. My mom encouraged this habit by buying me tons of books. I used to read the Dick and Jane series by Dr. William S. Gray, Mr. Men series by R. Hargreaves. My mom also bought a lot of classic books by Mark Twain. Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott etc. At a very young age I was able to quote dialogues from David Copperfield and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and 20,000 leagues under the sea by Jules Verne. I’ve continued reading literary works by new and old authors. Last year I fell in love with Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. The book is about 2 best friends with different backgrounds, growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan before the Russian invasion and the Taliban rule. A life changing incidents separates the 2 friends….one moves to the US and the other stays in Afghanistan. The book follows the protagonist’s life….through his decisions, his ups and downs and finally his atonement for his past mistakes. The Kite Runner instantly became one of my favorite books. I loved Hosseini’s writing style.....he is great with descriptions and you cant help but immerse yourself in his rich story of friendship, loyalty, salvation and a country ravaged by war and religious hypocrites. I was ecstatic when I found out that the book was going to be made into a movie!!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kite_Runner_film.jpg
I started looking up the release dates and theater showings. I wasn’t sure that it would hit mainstream theaters but I figured I would be able to catch it in certain theaters in DC or NYC. I was glad to find out that the movie would be shown at mainstream theaters and I made plans to watch it with my folks. Unfortunately Bhatji got sick and then I got sick and our plans for watching the movie were pushed back. My sis and my parents saw it and raved about how good it was. Luckily the movie wasn’t completely out of the theaters so this past weekend Bhatji and I finally got to see the movie. It was incredible!! I mean the book is good but the movie was well done and was almost as good as the book. There were scenes in the movie that tugged at my heart and soooo much of the old Afghanistan reminded me of India. The street vendors, the kite flying contests etc. We couldn’t help but be nostalgic. The other interesting tidbit was that their language (Pashto) had similar words to modern day Hindi. So Bhatji and I sat picking out those words hehe. I really hope all of you get to see the movie and definitely go grab the book: The Kite Runner