"For you, a thousand times over."
This was what Hassan would tell Amir when they were young boys and good friends. Amir was the son of Baba, a successful businessman in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hassan was his de facto "personal servant". Hassan's father was Ali, Baba's (Amir's father, the businessman) personal servant. Both men grew up together in the same way as Amir and Hassan. Ali and Hassan are Hazara's, an ethnic tribe in Afghanistan whose distinctive facial features - narrow eyes, flat noses, broad cheeks - made them an outcast in their own land. Amir is jealous of Hassan, though, because he thought that his father paid more attention to Hassan rather than to him, his son. Hassan was Amir's kite runner, the best there was, and when Amir won a tournament in kite fighting, Hassan shared his excitement and set about to find the opponent's kite that would have served as Amir's trophy that he could present to his father. On his way 'though, Hassan encountered Assef, a bully from whom Hassan had previously defended Amir. Assef's group cornered Hassan and Assef raped him. Amir saw what happened but in his terrified state, hid from Assef and his group. Hassan changed from that moment on and Amir, in his guilt, found a way to get rid of Hassan by accusing him of stealing his birthday money. Baba felt so heartbroken when Ali and Hassan left.
When the Talibans took over, seizing Baba's fortunes, Baba and Amir went to America where Baba worked at a gas station and soon after Amir married, Baba became ill and Soraya, Amir's wife, took care of him until he died. Amir and Soraya found out later that they couldn't have children. Back in Afghanistan, Ali died from stepping into a landmine. Hassan also married and his wife borne him a son, Sohrab. When Hassan died, the Talibans, the group led by the bully Assef, stole Sohrab from the orphanage as a revenge for Hassan hitting him with a slingstone when Hassan defended Amir when they were young. A friend, Rahim Khan, who knew about what happened to Hassan, as well as Baba's secret that Hassan was actually his son and Amir's half-brother, called Amir and told him that "There is a way to be good again." Amir goes back to Afghanistan to find his half-nephew Sohrab and to rescue him from Assef.
-o0o-
the day i started reading 'the kite runner', i had actually started reading "the time traveller's wife'. my friend pearl, whose husband does book review, called me from their home in montreal to tell me and insisted for me to 'read the kite runner first'. her husband was scheduled to review 'the kite runner' in toronto the following weekend. so at one o'clock in the afternoon, i sat and read the first pages of 'the kite runner'. i had to be pried from it and i almost had to cancel a dinner plan that night and i would have finished reading the book had it not been for that dinner. yes, the book is that good!
a few months later, there was a girl in our mailroom that everyone thought was a filipina. i didn't think she was but when i asked her, she said she was from afghanistan. when i asked if she was a Hazara, she smiled, somewhat amused and pleased, and said yes and asked how i knew. i remembered the description in the book and the articles which i have read later about the Hazara tribe. sadly she wasn't aware of the unjust treatment her people had been suffering. for more information on the Hazara's, you might want to go to this link: b
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/02/afghanistan-hazara/phil-zabriskie-text.html
about the photo, these are my two grandsons (my side of the family). today i showed them how to fly a kite (which i have not done since i was eight years old fifty years ago!). they enjoyed it tremendously, as you can see from the above collage. it was also my way of prying them off the computer and the PS3!
thank you for the kudos on the boys' pictures. i think they're ready to go to the beaches and fly their kites for real. i was thinking today: hey, i may not be able to ride a bike, but i can fly a kite! i know, it's not the same. hahaha!
@steeler - thank you, howard. i was quite pleased with the picture on the lower right - i actually caught the boy while he's in the air. look at his feet, they're not touching the ground. i don't think i could do it again haha.
@danig - "inspired"?? why, thank you, DG!