Hinduism #2

Hinduism seems really confusing to me. I mean like they seem to tempt to make life simpler because they use black and white to define the the good and bad things in life but they have so many other things in their religion that are much more complicated. Like reincarnation for example is really complicated because you have to go back and relive their lives so many time and each time you have to try and figure out what you need to do to be able to change to move on to Nirvana. I also dont really believe in reincarnation because I dont think that you get to keep reliving your life till you figure out the right way to live it. I believe that you are giving one life and one life only to do with it what you may whether you make wise decisions or not. Kalpa seemed kinda weird to me because I don't see how a person can like suddenly come back after 4,320,00 years and live a whole new life and suddenly remember who he was at one point and then now the next. Anyway no one lives for that long so how do they truely know that this really even happens? I mean come on this whole part of their religion could all just be hear say. They could all just be living their lives according to one big lie.

Final Reflection

When I first started reading this book I did not think that i was going to be to interested in it. But as i got reading it it turned out to be a very good book. My favorite part of the book was when they would talk Mohsen and Zunaira's life because you would think that it is going have them living a decent life considering what the taliban has done and that it is not going to affect them as much as say Atiq and his wife Mussarat. As you on thought you find that the taliban affects everyone in Kabul.
The part in the book that I did not like is how the taliban treats women. They show them no respect at all and they treat them like they are an object that is pretty much incapable of doing anything.
If I was the author of the book I would have told where Zunaira went off too. I would not have just left the reader to ponder the thought of where she went off to because pretty much had no where to go because she had no living family that she knew of and her husband is dead. I also would have ended up haveing her stay with Atiq because his wife so generous to save her life.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Fifteen

They all go through with the plan of the two women switching places. Mussarat goes into the jail cell and Zunaira goes into Atiq's cubby and hides. Qassim goes into Atiqs office and sees Zunaira and asks Atiq who she is. He replies by telling him that she is his wife and then Qassim offers for her to go to the stadium and watch and Atiq says that she will go. Whne they get there they watch Mussarat be killed and then when they leave Atiq looses Zunaira in all the crowds of people. He then goes home and has an awful dream and goes and roams the streets unvailing women trying to find Zunaira. The men who the women belong to are extremely offended by his actions and beat him to death.
I'm not very sure where Zunaira would be hiding or even where she would have gone to because she even said she had no family to return to.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Fourteen

The line "something is taking place inside of you that would make you the envy of saints and kings." means that Atiq after haveing such a harsh life and hating everything about it has just suddenly changed and allowed himself to become happy and live his life fuller tahn he used too.
Atiq's wife suggest that him and Zunaira run off together so they can live a happy life adn Atiq does not understand why she is telling him to do that. he figures that she would be mad that someone else makes him more happy. The thing that makes her happy though is that Atiq is finally allowing himself to feel real feelings for something in his life. Atiq's wife then makes the suggestion that she and Zunaira switch places because she is about to die from her disease and that is a way that Atiq and Zunaira can live happy lives together.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Thirteen

When Atiq goes to Qassim's house to tell him that he thinks Zunaira is innocent Qassim does nothing but tell Atiq that she did kill her husband and that he will not set her free. This angers Atiq and he goes to the jailhouse. When he arrives at the jailhouse Zunaira is not expecting anyone to come in so she tries to protect her face. When she realizes who it is she does not worry. Then Atiq tells Zunaira to run away and and go far away from here. When he tells her to leave and that he will take the blame for it she refuses to leave. Atiq does not understand why she will not go. Zunaira tells him that she has ruined one household she does not want to ruin another. Sh also says that she has lost her only connection to the world and that she has no family to go to anyway.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Twelve

The affect Zunaira has on Atiq is kinda surprising because the whole way through the book Atiq is depressed and never looks at the good side of things. Then he sees Zunaira and she makes him open up just by the sight of her. He can not keep his eyes off her. He even becomes so mesmerized by the sight of her that he forgets to pray.
I think that the author chose to use that analogy because he describes the way that the taliban has forced woman to become. They have to cover themselves completely and are not allowed to talk in the presence of certain people. This makes them practically like ghosts because they are not allowed to do anything.
Mussurat's reaction to Atiq seeing Zunaira is a good one because she is happy that there is someone out there who can bring the poet out in Atiq and take away the depressed feeling he is always feeling.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Eleven

Atiq is at the jailhouse and he is with a militiaman. Qassim tells the militiaman that he does not want Atiq to leave until he gets there. While they are waiting on Qassim the two men begin to talk. While Atiq is there he begins to wonder if he going to become like Nazeesh. Then Qassim arrives at the jailhouse and he brings in a women who is in trouble for killing her husband. It turns out that the women is Zunaira.
I hope that Zunaira does escape from jail because i do not particularly want to see her die because in this story she seems to be the only one who wants to stand up for what she believes in whether the taliban likes it or not.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Ten

In this chapter Mohsen and Zunaira are fighting like they never have before. Mohsen can not stand for Zunaira to be mad at him so when he comes home he tries to make up with her. When he confronts her about their problems she just flat out tells him she does not ever want to see him again. This upsets Mohsen and they begin to fight even more and Mohsen asks Zunaira why she feels this way and she tells him because he does not stick up for her to the officers in the taliban. They begin to fight even more and then Mohsen does what he never thought he would and he hits Zunaira. After this happens he begs for her forgiveness and she goes to leave and he grabs her arm. The next thing she knows Mohsen is laying on the floor bleeding and she does not know what to do.
I do not like how they are fighting because in the beginning of the story they are like the perfect couple despite the fact that the taliban is ruining their lives. Now however they are letting the affects of the taliban get to them and it has ruined the one good relationship in Kabul.

Swallos of Kabul Chapter Nine

In the beginning of this chapter Qassim is riding in a 4x4 on his way home from his mother's funeral. He is talking with his driver and his driver asks him if he wanted to stay another night and he declines because he says he does not really know his mother. His driver starts to talk to him about how he did not know his mother but he still cares for her. Qassim is not very interested this conversation. As they get closer to Kabul Qassim offers to take him to eat. When they arrive to eat Atiq is there. Atiq notices them and tries to leave without being seen. Qassim sees him and talks to him about how he believes that he is depressed. Qassim offers Atiq money but Atiq says he does not need. Qassim also offers him to join him and his old war buddies when they go out and just talk and drink tea.
I think that it would be good for Atiq to go out and talk with Qassim and his friends because it would give him a way to let out all the feelings his has bottled up inside. If he keeps all those feelings about his wifes sickness and with being fed up with being a jailor it could start to affect him mentally like a lot of the other men in Kabul.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Eight

In this Chapter Mohsen is in the mosque because he was forced to go there by the taliban officer. Mullah Bashir is leading this prayer and he is thought of as a very great mullah by the taliban. Mohsen feels bad that he had to leave Zunaira sitting outside in the hot sun during the sermon so he looks back at her but then later gets in trouble by an officer who cracks his whip. After the sermon Mohsen goes outside to meet Zunaira and he goes to help her walk back to the house but she pulls away and tells him not to touch her.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Seven

Atiq is out in the blazing hot sun and he sees some hundreds of sickly looking children. When he sees them he feels uneasy. Before Atiq saw these kids he regretted the fact that god never gave him and his wife children but now he sees all of these kids and considers himself lucky. As Atiq is walking down the street he passes Nazeesh's house. Nazeesh sees him and pretends to sleep while Atiq passes him. Atiq realizes and then comes and starts to talk to Nazeesh. While he is talking to him he apologizes for the hurtful words he had said the previous night. Then Nazeesh says that he should be the one apologizing because he interrupted him when he wanted to be alone. Nazeesh then asks Atiq if he thinks that what he said the other night was true and Atiq replies back in a rude way. Atiq then leaves Nazeesh and begins to walk and think about how it feels good for him to be mean like that to people. As Atiq is walking however Mirza Shah sees him talking to himself again and begins to talk to him and tell him that people are gonna think he is crazy if he keeps doing that. Then Atiq gets upset with Mirza's comments and leaves. As he leaves he runs into Zunaira and knocks over Mohsen. Mohsen then gets up and an officer from the taliban comes over and ask him if he thinks this is a circus. Mohsen starts talking to the officer and then officer hits him with the whip and Zunaira pulls him and tells him that they need to go. Then the officer yells at her for speaking. The officer then makes Mohsen go attend the prayer while Zunaira stays by the wall.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Six

In this chapter Zunaira is no longer holding the fact the Mohsen helped with the stoning against him. Kabul has gone from bad to worse and it is said that an isolated person is doomed. Much like the man that was whipped to death because he ran through the streets screaming god has failed. Mohsen then arrives back home and he asks Zunaira to go out and walk through the market with him. She declines because she does not want to go out there because she would then have to wear a burqa. This would cover her face and she does not approve of that because she used to be a magistrate where she fought for women's rights and she believes that wearing this burqa makes women become objects. She then realizes that her husband is very disapointed because he believes the Taliban is ruining there relationship because he can not go out into the streets and even hold hands with his wife. He thinks that just because they forbid this that they should still go out together because they can still walk side by side.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Five

In this chapter we start off with Atiq at the mosque again. This time he is there for the Isha prayer. While he is there he reads his texts and then he gets and overwhelming feeling like his head is going to burst. Then the congregation meets outside and the only the veterans are still there. Atiq then goes into the streets and ends up at the jail house. He decides he is going to stay there for the night since things are overwhelming at home. While he is there he is startled by Nazeesh. Nazeesh is a new character in this chapter. He is a sixty year old man who is having troubles at home with a loved one being ill just like Atiq. Nazeesh brings Atiq some food. While they are eating they begin to talk about Nazeesh's father being very ill and how Nazeesh is fed up with him complaining all the time. Nazeesh then says that he is going to leave and never come back. Atiq disagrees with him and tells him that he has said he is leaving many times yet he never does. They begin to have a little argument then Nazeesh leaves the jail house but on the way out he says that he agrees with Atiq that he know he says he will leave but he never does.

Swallows of Kabul Chapter Four

This chapter starts off with Atiq at a mosque praying. Outside the mosque there are militiamen from the taliban standing guard. Then the pray begins and everyone forms into lines. Atiq however does not and a short elf like man tugs his vest to lead him into line to pray and Atiq is very offended by his gesture so he grabs the man by the wrist as hard as he can before he would scream. The man then walks to the front of the line and leaves Atiq. After praying Atiq listens to some veterans talk about war stories and some of the veterans their begin to arque about the dead men's bodies stinking. Atiq then goes home and sees that his ill wife Musarrat has cleaned the entire house. They then begin to talk and Atiq does not understand why she thinks that she has to prove everything to him.
Mohsen and his wife Zunaira are fighting because Zunaira is upset with Mohsen for participating in the stoning of the prostitute. Mohsen wants to reach his hand out to his wife but to him his body feels paralyzed. Zunaira is the same way but after awhile she gets up and goes behind the curtain. Mohsen waits for his wife to come back and after two hours when she does not he goes to see what she is doing. He sees her with her knees to her chest and she is facing the wall. He leaves before she knows he is there and goes outside.