You are still the morning sun to my Yelda

From Wikipedia - Shabe Yaldā or Shabe Chelle is an Iranian festival originally celebrated on the Northern Hemisphere's longest night of the year, that is, on the eve of the Winter Solstice.

I am talking about a promise I had made a few blogs ago – The Kite Runner. Gist of it – I have fallen in love with the way Khaled Hosseini writes.

The book is about the unquenchable quest for that morning sun, it is about the long excruciating wait for that blissful dawn, it is about never-ending darkness looming a devilish cloud of melancholy and it is about conquering your Yelda. Above all – the book is about – Redemption.

As with Khaled’s second book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) – the book revolves around Afghanistan, the Afghanistan of turmoil, of pathos, of blood-drenched soil and of spirit, of conviction and of culture.

The book conveys its renderings through Amir – a diffident, self-indulgent, artistically-inclined Afghan boy – born to a rich father, The book is also about Amir’s friend and servant – Hassan – a Hazara boy – altruistic, all-forgiving and a boy of undying loyalty towards his near and dear ones. Hassan is the Kite Runner. He is that unflinching friend who would run that extra mile for Amir.

The story takes stark and sometimes suffocating turns through the 30 years (close to) it spans. Khaled gasps the reader for air with his heart-wrenching rendition of sordid human character, of spirit, of friendship and camaraderie, of selfless acts and of Afghanistan. Khaled brilliantly portrays relationships – of friends, of master and servants, of father and son and of husband and wife.

I relent from mentioning the plot - I shall only eulogize. No amount of eulogy can tantamount the vividness and clarity in Khaled’s portrayal – of characters and his legerdemain in conjuring almost movie-like scenes.

If I were to pick between the two Khaled books? The writing style is unchanged in the two – but vividness seeps in much more life-like in The Kite Runner. 'The Kite Runner' is far more melodramatic than 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and far more heart-wrenching.

As Hassan says ‘ For you, a thousand times over’ – I am a Khaled Hossieni fan!