Three Cups of Tea

I finished reading “Three Cups of Tea” (Non-Fiction) by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin yesterday – this is my first book for the OT challenge hosted by Bethany.

The book is written by Relin, narrated in the third person recounting Mortenson’s story that spans over a decade. Mortenson fails to scale the K2 in 1993, loses his way twice on the way down and finds himself in the Balti village of Korphe. He is touched by the kindness of the villagers, observes firsthand the harsh conditions under which the Baltis live in. He asks the village chief to take him to the school so that he can contribute in a more lasting way than handing out supplies, medicines. On a cold morning after he shockingly watches eighty four children from the village kneeling down on the cold frost covered ground in the open air and drawing multiplication tables with sticks on the ground, he promises the chief that he will build a school for Korphe.

Little does he realize then that the promise will eventually lead him to his life’s calling and turn out to be a better tribute to his sister Christa than scaling the K2 would’ve been. The story starts from here, takes us through the hassles Mortenson faces to build the KorpheSchool . In his journey going forward, he enables vocational centers for women, conducts mountaineering camps for the porters from the villages near K2, and enables high school education especially for girls through scholarships.

Without it being planned at the start, the initiative grows into the Central Asia Institute that has built more than sixty schools in remote villages of Pakistan and Afganistan - thus fighting the root causes of terror by offering children who would otherwise be pulled into extremist schools a balanced education.

Reviewing this book and talking about what one thinks of Morenson’s accomplishments are two very different things.

Relin’s writing makes the book a very easy read and keeps you hooked onto it throughout -- unlike many other non-fictions that seek to preach and tend to dry out. I found reading the first half of the book spanning up to building the first school more enjoyable, especially the parts about Mortenson’s childhood, growing up days which makes him the person he is. (Any mountaineer could’ve stumbled upon remote villages near the K2 and chosen to thank his kind hosts and not to ever look back. We do see such people in the story help out monetarily to the CAI.) Certain dramatic parts, filled with metaphors could’ve been avoided, I fast-read these lines and skipped over to the real story. These are uncalled for in a non-fiction, especially one where the writer is not the protagonist. But these parts are rare and the story that’s being told more than makes up for it.

Going beyond the words in the book into the life of Mortenson …it is extra-ordinary for the fact that Mortenson was just an ordinary man. It’s really about believing in what you do and persevering to the end and more. To me, it's about getting out of your comfort zones, not bowing down to failures (the story starts with a failure) , or to step inward but to look out and make the best of what you do have.

I’d recommend the book to anyone who really yearns to make a difference. And it sure is a must read for anyone in whose view, terrorism is synonymous with Islam - for ignorance is the real enemy.

Quotes:

The first cup of tea you share with a Balti, you are a stranger, the second time you take tea, you are an honored guest, the third time you share a cup of tea you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die. .. you must make time to share three cups of tea.

If you educate a boy—you educated an individual, because he often leaves the community to find work, and may never return or send back money, but if you educate a girl—you educate a community, because when the girl becomes a mother, she will remain in the community and instill that value in her community.