Personal Narrative: The Kite Runner

“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime”- Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

In the summer of 2014, I decided to delve into a kind of entropic calm, when I chose to pick up an internship. I have never really felt at peace unless I was in the most chaotic situation I could find, which is why I went around looking for a hundred different things to do – music, plays, football, debates, anything and everything. My sense of worth has always been intricately woven into what I do and how I do it.

When I began the internship, my motive was to do something worthwhile, learn and have fun. Those jobs made me feel grown up; gave me a semblance of control over my life. But I ended up getting so much more that I

One day I came back from school and found my mother sitting in my room. The air was tense and I asked her what the matter was. She told me that she had some bad news – that she had called the PRIA office for some information and learnt that Martha had passed away. No, not passed away – she had been gunned down by extremist jihadists while on an assignment in Kabul.

Putting into words how that event affected me is probably the most distressing thing I have ever had to do. But the only way to describe it would be a splintering collapse of my conscience. I lost faith in justice or any idea of fairness. Because just one day had ripped apart a family, killed a woman who had so much more to give and taken away my mentor.

Once the shock passed, the anger set in – a sheer rage at the unfairness and futility of it all. What gave them the right to take a life, arbitrarily? One thing led to another and my rage grew into a personal vendetta against unfairness. If I was inclined towards a career in public service before, now, I was downright determined.

And that brings us to today. I am on a mission to make the world better. That, kind of, says it