The Hindu Business Line : What happens when you listen

Today, with reports coming in about the Taliban regrouping and fundamentalism in all its negative hues holding the whole world hostage, it becomes even more important to read this book because it reflects what lies at the core of all forms of life 212; live and let live. And, although it is a book about the specific work of a particular individual and his dream to ‘promote peace, one school at a time’ (to quote the blurb on the cover) in the high reaches of the Karakoram mountain range where Pakistan and Afghanistan meet and rub shoulders with India, it is also a tribute to the work of thousands all over the world who soldier on to make a difference.

Briefly, Three Cups of Tea tells the story of trained nurse and former mountaineer Greg Mortenson who, on an assault on the formidable K2 in September 1993, lost his way and found himself at the ceremonial entrance of the village of Korphe, situated 800 ft above the swift-flowing Braldu River in Baltistan, Pakistan, followed by a tail of some 50 children. There he looked and… “…standing on the other side of the gate, wearing a topi, a lambswool pillbox cap, the same distinguished shade of grey as his beard, a wizened old man, with features so strong they might have been carved out of the canyon walls, waited. His name was Haji Ali and he was the nurmadhar, the chief, of Korphe.”

Haji Ali invited Mortenson into the village, offered him a cup of butter tea to drink, and then: “The headman leaned forward, now that the required threshold of hospitality had been crossed, and thrust his bearded face in front of Mortenson’s. ‘Cheezaley?’ he barked; the indispensable Balti word means, roughly, ‘What the hell?’”

This meeting proved to be a turning point in Mortenson’s life and, before he left for his home back in the US, he had promised the people of Korphe that he would help them build a bridge across the Braldu, and a school for their children.

How he managed to keep his promise through all the conflagrations and conflicts and political standoffs and the support he received from well-wishers in the US and in Pakistan is recounted by journalist Relin, who worked on this book for two years.

In the introduction to the book, Relin says, “The accounts I’d heard about Mortenson’s adventures building schools for girls in the remote mountain regions of Pakistan sounded too dramatic to believe before I left home.

The story I found, with ibex hunters in the high valleys of the Karakoram, in nomad settlements at the wild edge of Afghanistan, around conference tables with Pakistan’s military elite, and over endless cups of paiyu cha in tea-rooms so smoky I had to squint to see my notebook, was even more remarkable than I’d imagined.”

Relin’s belief in Mortenson’s work makes Three Cups of Tea a moving account, but it is not sentimental; it elaborately details a way of life, but it is never romantic; it lays bare systems that do not work and a terrain that is rugged, but it is direct and matter of fact. With felicity, it communicates the bond between life and land, and the love that people have for their homes.

Especially, the book brings into focus the human drama buried under unrelenting military strikes to hunt down the Al Qaeda. It also tells, for instance, what happened to 15-year-old Fatima Batool, whose village near the Line of Control was so heavily bombarded during the Kargil conflict, she hid in the caves. “‘Life was very cruel in the caves,’ says Fatima’s friend Nargiz Ali. ‘Our village, Brolmo, was a very beautiful place, with apricot and even cherry trees, on a slope by the Indus River.

But we could only glance out at it and watch it being destroyed.’ They had no alternative but to flee towards Skardu, the Baltistani capital. Then Nargiz recalls their first meeting with “a large Angrezi” who told them “that if we were willing to work hard, he would help us build a school. And do you know, he kept his chat-ndo, his promise”.

With Swiss physicist and Silicon Valley microchip industry pioneer Dr Jean Hoerni, Mortenson co-founded the Central Asia Institute that has so far fully or partially funded schools, teachers, women’s vocational centres, health centres, potable water projects and several other initiatives.

All this by listening and learning from the local communities, and by ensuring that projects are initiated, implemented and managed entirely by the communities themselves. That’s the only way, believes Mortenson whose work has received worldwide acclaim. But volunteers who wish to enlist in the CAI’s projects are advised to take careful stock of the situation before taking the plunge.

The book, too, has received several awards including the Kiriyama Non-fiction award and the Time Magazine’s Asian Book of the Year prize.

But in the end, Three Cups of Tea is neither about Mortenson nor about how well his story is told. It is about the people of the Karakoram who want to live in peace and girls who want to become doctors. It is about the right to live the traditional life with dignity and freedom. It is about diversity and coexistence.

It is about belonging. As Haji Ali explained to Mortenson, “Here, we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything — even die.”

You don’t have to go to such great lengths: if you purchase a copy of this book through its Web site www.threecupsoftea.com, seven per cent of what you pay goes towards girls’ education scholarship fund in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It’s the first step to making the world your family.

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