Tales From Agrabah

• 9. K. Housseni: (١) "Amir Agha"

• N i n e •

K. Housseni: (١) "Amir Agha"

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I read "The Kite Runner" when I was younger than I could understand what the book was about. For the most part, I don't actually remember it. No matter how much I try visualising what I was doing while reading that book, I keep drawing a blank. It fits into the same shelf as The Breadwinner*(1), The Pearl That Broke Its Shell*(2) and Kiss The Dust*(3) for me. I think I remember the storylines of these, but for the language I can't recall, I'd like to read them again.

TKR is the one I've started on, out of the lot. Only 84 pages into the story and I've put the book down about three times thinking I'd never read it again. It's a strong read, in my opinion. You could pass the conversations for light chit-chat, but it's so perfectly timed, yet haphazardly strewn across pages. Maybe I've overanalyzed a few parts, but SubhanAllah, the words of K. Housseni take root in the form of seedlings that later grow into forests.

As you probably decuded, I kept reading. I mean, curiously kills cats, so why not? 🙊 I'm not letting it get away with murder for nothing. 😆

One of the things that made me uncomfortable while reading was how two children of the same age were pushed into a system of heirarchy neither knew the consequences of. Every time Hassan said "Amir agha", it was bothersome. Even if one was the servant and the other; a master, they were children. What was more appalling was how normally everyone seemed to take the injustice. Almost like that is where the lower group belonges, like they'd say "how dare you treat him as an equal?" Obviously, it was a result of hundreds of years of oppression.

Humans are big on appearances; it's more of a drawback than anything else. We tend to classify attributes to a group of people, no matter how many of those things are actually exclusive to most. Hassan's mother was seen as an exotic exception amongst the "normally dull-faced Hazara people", because she was beautiful. I agree it got to her head, but could that also not be because of the way people perceived her? Why must her faults be her own entirely when she lives in a society that teaches her that her own beauty is rare amongst her people? A society that pushes her up on a pedestal, watches her fall with everyone else and says she got hurt more because she chose to fall from a height? I mean, it goes both ways, right?

It's pathetic, how we push the blame around. We must fight to change that. But how many of us know of something like this and accept it as reality? For example, like the #BlackLivesMatter and how it's being addressed in the twenty-first century; an age of so-called intellectuals. When things like this don't bother us, it only shows how much we've given in to ignorance. Privilege can be evil at times when it blindfolds us, for that is when we do not wish for our brothers and sisters what we wish for ourselves.

Apart from this, though, I'm really glad "agha" wasn't given an equivalent English term. It's such a beautifully cruel word, the gap between them is almost tangible this way. I mean, I read "qurma" somewhere and the glossary said "chicken, often the one found in stew", and I've never trusted glossaries since. Until I read again and overthink, I'll leave you to your thoughts.

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*(1) by Deborah Ellis

*(2) by Nadia Hashimi

*(3) by Elizabeth Laird