Review By Sunaina Luthra/Harsimran Kaur 

Rating: 4/5

What insinuated the Pakistan Taliban to bruise a shot in the head of a fifteen year old girl who believed education was an unblemished cloud in the otherwise blemished horizon?

• Was it the radical Islamist idiosyncrasies that believe women empowerment is deleterious for the patriarchal appeasement?
• Or, a fall of feather that empties their own nest of infallible validations of Islamist teachings?

Whatever the reason, the scurrilous attack on Malala was despotic for she wanted to turn the tide for women in distress by spreading the light of education. For her indissoluble effort and courage, Malala Yousafzai was bestowed with the Nobel Peace Prize, and is a prominent Human right activist.

“I am Malala” is not just a story of ayoung Pushton girl but an expression of her beliefs and ambitions to stage women of being self-reliant and opinionated. She worked with her father Ziauddin Yousafzairelentlessly to impart education in the tensed Swat Valley-Pakistan. Malala was like any other girl who loved the company of her family and friends.She had fancy for ‘Twilight movies’ and ‘Justin Bieber’ songs, and harboured common insecurities about her future. Being a brilliant student, she considered her father to be her mentor and guide.

But, a pack of wolves were ready to tear them apart; the Taliban did not leave any stone unturned to terrorize the villagers. They resorted to showing defiance to education for girls, and what more brewed were the invariable threats spiked on Malala and her father. The final blow of intolerance whiffed on October 09, 2012, when Malala lost the consciousness of her own identity and existence. The shot was not a mere bullet but an authoritarian persecution of liberal fantasy and tendentious empowerment.

She was surreptiouslytransported to England, and after numerous surgeries and prayers, she revived to breathe again. Today, she lives in banishment in Birmingham, but her beautiful valley is still close to her heart and dreams to go back home.

She is known as a woman with inexhaustible energy and dauntless self-confidence. The book resonates a strong message for the right to education, and the events in Malala’s life have been meticulously synchronized to provide a fastidious read.

TAKEAWAY

“I know the importance of education because my pens were taken away from me by force.”

Despite the challenges of a community that is accustomed to violence, a government that is riddled with embezzling politicians and a society that insist on controlling the lives of women, Malala had the courage to improve the condition of women by proffering education for a noble and courageous living.

She gave an impetus to the women who battle brutality. Along came the notion that power is not the courage of the seed to sprout out but the restraint and compassion that goes to make a seed into a plant. Malala did the obvious and stands tall today inspite of the tyranny she went through.

Eloquent and conscientious!