Book Review - Three Cups of Tea

Written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin - it’s a New York Times bestseller. A lot of books make it to the top but then not all of them make it to the personal favourite list and have this privilege of being talked about in my blog.

The sub title of the book “One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” says it all. It tells the real life story of an American, Greg Mortenson (who is also the author) and his transition from a mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and educating girls in Pakistan and Afganistan. The book's title comes from a Balti proverb: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honoured guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family..."

The story begins in 1993, when Greg fails in his attempt to scale K2, the second highest mountain in the world. He drifts away from the rest of his team -alone and exhausted in the mountains he ends up in a small village Khorpe (Baltistan) where the villagers nurse him back to health. To repay the people of the remote village he decides to set up a school for them. For a middle class American who has no real contacts in the world this was no easy task – building a school in one of the remotest corners of the world and that too on Pakistan-Afghanistan border- an area know for its cold deserts and the Taliban.

Undaunted and focussed on his mission Greg manages not only to build one but fifty-five schools in that region. He grew from being a common man to a legend but then there was no stopping- he still does what he loves most – using education as a means to eradicate poverty and terrorism from one of the most notorious(and physically difficult) regions in the world.

The book is written in simple language and there is nothing fancy about it- it reads more like a personal diary than anything else. For sure it’s a page turner – especially in the part when Greg is captured by the Taliban. He not only survives the capture but manages to convey to his captors that the mission he is working has nothing to do with any kind of extremism- if not the one taught in the “madarsas” where the future Talibanis are produced then certainly not the one that teaches Americanism or hatred against any religion.

The book gave me a fresh perspective to the conflict happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India- especially made me review my thoughts about the one between the Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir/Siachin Glacier. A lot of times I have heard that the common people on both sides of the border want peace and the war is more political than anything else. Newspapers (from both sides of the border) carry a lot of stories but then they always looked biased. Not this one. The descriptions of the atrocities suffered by the Pakistanis during the Kargil war at the hands of the Indian army made me think twice. I realised I have been so blinded by the gruesome descriptions of the atrocities on the Indian soldiers that I never thought the other way round. Reading it evoked almost the same feelings as Mani Ratnam’s Bombay had done – noone really benefits from communal riots no matter of what scale. The people on both sides of the border are all the same, with the same needs of roti, kapda, makaan an education for the kids and peace.

Another part that I liked was that Greg doesn’t sound pompous or out of the world anywhere in the book- he is a common man with common troubles – like not knowing how to raise money, failure in his love life and not knowing how to operate a computer. But then he still manages to be a success. I waste a lot of time, doing nothing and thinking that I do not have enough money- when I can afford a lot of things that he missed out on while raising the funds single handedly for the girls in Pakistan- like a decent dinner, like a clean pair of clothes, like a clean bed to sleep on. Made me feel ashamed that I work less and complain more- even when I am working to give my self a better life and here he was doing everything and not complaining so that someone high in the mountains (who will probably never would have been asked for an opinion) could fare better.

A must read – after all Greg has managed to become my personal hero.