Lady of the lamp – of Hope

Malala Yousafzai’s emotional visit to her homeland 

The Pashtun Yousafzai tribe is historically acknowledged for its innate qualities of defiance and courage against overwhelming odds. Their men taunted invading Babur forces from their mountainous Swat hideouts, were uncooperative with Emperor Akbar, and only partly subjugated under Mughal rule. These attributes were not found wanting in a later brave daughter of Swat soil, Malala Yousafzai, who stoutly and determinedly resisted the dreaded Taliban in her hometown in a heroic endeavor for female education, was shot critically in the head, but miraculously survived to become what the militants would envisage only in their worst nightmare, a popular voice for child education and human rights, but with the whole world as her devoted audience. She was not brave when the danger was past, like the common run of humanity, but in the face and thick of it, and that sets her apart.

She is now a widely feted international figure,the youngest winner of the Nobel Prize and numerous other global accolades, although the  manner of her swift catapulting to celebrity status can hardly be called desirable or recommended for everyone. On a four-day visit to her homeland, though perhaps not to her beloved scenic hometown, ‘a paradise on earth’,Swat, the usually calm and collected Malala broke down during a speech on Thursday at the Prime Minister’s office, clearly overcome by the enormity of the occasion, and of her fateful journey from a relatively unknown teen schoolgirl on that dark day of October 9, 2012 to her present universally recognizable image and Oxford University studies.  She spoke of her still unbelieving joy on returning after over five years, of being only 20, but having seen and experienced much more, of her Foundation’s $6 million grant for girls education in Pakistan, and still fervently following her dream that ‘one child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world’. Fame has not spoilt her, she remains focused, confident, grounded, and despite all, not without a sense of impish humour, but unfortunately, her short present stay will perforce remain restricted and secret, this time round. Welcome home, Malala, on the ‘happiest day of your life’.