“They thought that the bullets would silence us, but they failed. And out of that silence came thousands of voices. The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions. But nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”
This book is about a
young girl, a Pakistani women’s rights activist and a Nobel Prize laureate. The
book follows her story as her life transforms from an ordinary young girl to a
true hero. The book is narrated by Malala herself. Malala was a kid just like
us: she watched shows like Shaka Laka Boom Boom; she would imagine drawing to
avoid her annoying brothers; she would pray to have that pencil every night
before sleeping but it was never there.
She was just like
us; she was curious about the misogynistic traditions in her house. Even when
her friends and neighbours were scared from the Taliban, she refused to let
them win.
“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.”
They tried to stop
her from living her life, from studying, from watching tv, from being normal.
They tried to silence her. They forgot to consider that she would rise to
become a hero who would empower every person who would read her story. Despite her actions, she does not recognise
the heroism in what she did when she stood up for girls in her district who
deserved education. She knew it had to be done; she saw it as a necessity.
“I don't want to be
thought of as the 'girl who was shot by the Taliban' but the 'girl who fought
for education'. This is the cause to which I want to devote my life.”
Her narrative
doesn’t reflect upon her bravery. It shows how the world mistook her people as unloving.
She uses this book to reflect upon Islamic culture, its foundations of
hospitality, love and brotherhood; she does call out the misogynistic practices
though. She explains how the Taliban used people’s worst fears and twisted the
words of their beloved religion to breed hate and violence.
This book was a life
changer for me. As a teenager, I was never interested in politics, but this
book changed everything. The longer we justify our ignorance with our age, the
more we delay our country’s development, nay the world’s development.
“One child, one
teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”
This book was a
revelation for me. It made me realise that my education is a privilege and I
must make the most of it. When I finished reading this book, it took me a while
to realise that there will be a time that the world will be in my generation’s
hands. There are thousands of teenagers being denied basic rights: it is time
we fight for them because Malala taught us that if people were silent, nothing
would change.
It is time that we
abandon the sexist, racist, homophobic and bigoted traditions that we have been
practicing for decades and end this oblivion. It is time to put down our guns
and pick up a book or a pen to help the people around us.
-Kamya Chaturvedi
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