Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson

Three Cups of Tea

One Man's Mission to Promote Peace....... One School at a Time.

This is an amazing story of a guy who, by chance, comes to a mountain village in pakistan and ends up becoming a movement which is to impact the lives of thousands of children in those areas. I came across this book while I am leafing through our office library for strictly non-technical books (actually, if you check carefully, you see my name on all the non-technical books in our office library). It's a brand new book and I am the first one to take it. At first, it looked pretty much like a management book and I was not keen about that sort. But, what caught my attention was the words on the cover... an american mountaineer working in Pakistan building elementary schools. Wow! that's an interesting one. I took the book and am very happy with it.

This books talks about how an american mountaineer Greg, who works as a nurse for a living comes to pakistan trying to summit mount K2. After failing in his attempt, he looses his way and chances to come to a village where people takes care of him to recover his strength. He promisses to build a school for them after he sees how thae kids in that village struggle to study out doors in cold with out books, pens, slates or even a teacher to monitor them. He returns to america and tries to raise money enough to build a school in those mountains. After a lot of struggle he finds an other mountaineer who is rich enough to sponser the whole project. He goes back only to find lot of other villagers around the village trying to make him build a school for them. And the actual village(Korphe) is so high up and in accessible that they can't transport the material to build the school with out first building a bridge. He manages to build the bridge first and with the help of the villagers and goes back to America to raise funds for the school. The rich donor again helps him and he finishes the school successfully. Mean while, He realizes the need of schools in and around the area and starts an organization to raise funds for it and works on this full time now. The rest of the book talks about how he struggles with the life shifting between US and pakisthan and how he establishes a trusty relationship amound pakisthani people and how he continues to build school after school in such volatile situations.

What I liked best about the book is the naivity with which this guy reaches out to the tribes people of pakistan who are so hard to please. And also how fearlessly he continues to work in those areas even after the 9/11 attacks. How he travels in those hostile environment to afghanistan. This really amazed me and I just couldn't stop reading it until it is finished. A truely wonderful real life adventure. Some one said that this guy will get a nobel peace prize.... I dont know how far it is possible, but I will be very glad to encourage such recognition. I call him a Hero ! a true Hero !!!

Pollyanna - Eleanor H. Porter

Well, I wanted to start writing about the books with a more mature(the nearest adjective...adult/serious/heavy being the other options) book. But may be this is better in a way.
I found about "Pollyanna" when I am googling about some one/some thing or when I am browsing my most favourite online book site "classicbookshelf.com". It is about a girl of eleven years who, when orphaned, goes to live with her some what strict/exacting maternal aunt. Pollyanna's mother dies in her childhood and she was living with her father whose death leaves her to her aunts mercy. This aunt, though willing enough to take her in, looks at her only as an obligation and is not too happy about the situation. She puts her up in a small unattractive attic room and fits her up with new wardrobe and fixes her hours for sewing/cooking/lessons/music and thinks her duty is done by her niece.
But this small lonely kid longs for love from her fellow human beings. She's brought up my her missionary father to be "GLAD" in all the situations no matter how bleak it may seem to be. In fact, she's thought to make a play out of this glad business. This child goes around happy and jumping and spreading this game around the town. She touches and brings out changes in lot of families around but is still on constrained terms with her aunt. Finally, she meets with an accident and while she's on bed, many towns people to come to visit her and through them, the aunt comes to know about the game and how much the child's innocent game has influenced the lives around her. The book ends with a happy note when Pollyanna starts walking again and her aunt is reconciled to her and to her former admirer and marrys him.
I know that the above passages are not much of an insight into the book. but you have wikipedia for that.... what made me like the book is, the simplicity of the text, narration and the idea of the Glad game. It's a really good thought to always look to the positive side of things no matter what the situation it may. At some points, it's really heart rendering when the gild tries to be glad about having to sleep with her aunt. The poor child thinks it is a favour.
On the whole it is a good book for kids and even an adult might some times get a lesson out of it some day. It is always good to see the silver line of the cloud.