Three Cups of Tea, a book by an American humanitarian, Greg Mortenson, is about his journey to villages and rural area of Pakistan and Afghanistan, in order to make schools for education of the poor children, mostly girls. He aims to change the conventional thinking of the poor, illiterate elders of different tribes and areas, of not allowing girls to get an education. But upon arriving there, he discovers that many of these illiterate people possess wisdom, far more than anticipated, Greg himself admits that he learned a lot more than he had planned to teach, and thus his plans are met with a hearty welcome. Tribal leaders try to compete with one another to gain Greg’s favor to build them a school. But he decides to make his first school for the tribe who’s chief, Haji Ali, becomes his mentor. In the book, he narrates several incidents that take place during his journey, which range from kidnappings to gun fights to encounters with the Taliban etc. He had initially come to Pakistan, to climb the second largest peak in the world; K2, but after failing, he finds himself ready to climb another peak, and it’s glory is far greater than the former, and he doesn’t fail this time.
Greg has narrated several inspirational lessons he learnt. My personal favorite quotation by Greg is as follows: ‘If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not with bombs’-Greg Mortenson. I’m definite you will enjoy this book, and will get to see the positive side of Pakistan.
Looking forward to your comments and opinions. Happy Reading!
A Realist's World 