Malala

By Kritika Bhardwaj ; Dr. Ashok K. Sharma

She is Malala Yousafzai, a fragile looking teenage girl, who suddenly brought her otherwise infamous country Pakistan, into the limelight of respectability. She is the youngest ever Nobel Prize recipient. Malala is famous for her contribution in the field of human rights advocacy for education and for her struggle of supporting women rights in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had banned girls from attending school. Malala's advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

She dominated global news headlines, when on the afternoon of 9 October 2012; she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman. Overnight she became one of the most famous teenager in the world.

This is about her incredible yet very inspiring life and struggle that made her an ideal human being.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9788128828010

Book preview

Part I

Early Childhood

She is Malala Yousafzai, the most famous schoolgirl in the world who suddenly brought her otherwise infamous country Pakistan, into the limelight of respectability. She gets Skyped by the secretary-general of the United Nations, Angelina Jolie drops in for tea, and Madonna has dedicated a song to her. On her 16th birthday in July, her photo was projected onto New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, she got a standing ovation at the UN, and Beyoncé sent her an Instagram. Her iPod was a gift from Bono, her portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery and she is the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also hopeless at getting up in the morning, likes listening to Justin Bieber, telling jokes and mimicking Mr. Bean, and fights endlessly with her brother. Double-jointed, she enjoys making people cringe by clicking her legs as she walks, and teases her dad for traveling the world advocating girls’ rights yet never clearing the table at home.

When her native place, Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, was hounded by the fearsome extremist group Taliban, her meek and feeble voice rose against the Taliban ban on the School going girls and advocated the Right to education for each and every girl. She was aware of the consequences, but she was even more determined than the extremists opposing the girl’s education. And then the Taliban took a well anticipated decision in sheer desperation: to silence her voice, forever.

It was the afternoon on 9th October 2012, when she was returning from her school in her school bus and was shot at point-blank range at the head by one of the militants.

‘The militants stopped the school bus, stormed in and asked, Who is Malala? She stood up and replied with all her might, I am Malala! And that very moment, every other girl in the bus had already realized, what was going to happen next. Three bullets were fired. The first bullet hit Malala’s left brow and instead of penetrating her skull, it traveled underneath the skin, the length of the side of her head and into her shoulder. She was not expected to survive, but the prayers and best wishes from all over the world saved her. Medically speaking, hers was a miraculous recovery.’

I doubted they would kill me, they were looking for me; but deep inside I knew even if I was killed there would be more Malalas who would come forward and continue this fight for justice.- Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Birth

She was born on 12th July 1997, in Mingora in Pakistan as Malala Yousafzai. The birth of a girl was not considered good news in the village in which she was born, but even then she was the cynosure of her parents’ eyes. The girl’s arrival was at dawn, when the last star blinked out; which was considered as an auspicious sign by the Pashtun tribe, to which she belonged. Being born at a place where the arrival of a male child attracts firing of bullets and a female is being hid behind the curtains, she has managed to come a long way. No more is Malala the normal Pashtun girl, who was born to Ziauddin Yousafzai and Tor Pekai Yousafzai. The name ‘Malala’ was given by her father who fell in love with the child the moment he saw her, he even asked his family and friends to throw dry fruits in her cradle, something which was usually done at the time of birth of boys. The girl was named after Malalai of Mainwad, the greatest heroine of Afghanistan. Pashtuns belong to the tribe that is split between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Pashtuns are the men of their faces and words, there is a common saying for Pashtuns that says, ‘Without Honor, the world counts for nothing’.

According to the Afghan folklore Malalai was the daughter of a shepherd in Maiwand town in the west of the historical Kandahar belt. Her father and the man she was supposed to get married to, both were fighting against the British troops, when she was a teenager. Malalai went to the battle-field with other women of the village to nurse the wounded and fetch them water. She was seeing that their men were losing, and when the flag bearer fell down, she stood up holding the flag. She shouted, Young Men! If you do not fall in the battle of Maiwand, then by God, the destiny is saving you as a symbol of shame. She was then killed in retaliatory enemy fire, but her words echoed in the mind of the soldiers. They were so much in awe with the bravery the young girl showed that the tables were turned upside down soon. The battalion destroyed an entire brigade, which is still considered as the worst defeats in the history of British Army. She became the Afghan pride and the last Afghan king built a Maiwand victory monument in her remembrance in the center of Kabul. Many Afghan girls’ schools are named after her. But her grandfather was not too happy with her father calling her Malalai, as he said that the name meant ‘grief-stricken’.

When she was a baby, her father used to sing a song. The song was written by the famous Urdu poet, Rahmat Shah Sayel of Peshawar which were in the praise of Malalai of Maiwand. She used to get inspired from the stories that her father told anyone who used to come to their home about the young female hero. The words were,

‘O Malalai of Maiwand, Rise once more to make the Pashtun understand the song of Honor;

Your poetic words turn worlds around, I beg you to rise again….’

Her father loved her the most, as he lovingly called her ‘Jan-e-mun’ meaning the one who is loved more than the life. I was a very peace loving child, not a naughty one at all. Traditionally all Muslim girls are supposed to be disciplined and well-mannered, very docile and serene. When Malala was born, her family was very poor, her father and his friend had just founded their school. They used to live in a very small shabby shack of two rooms, just opposite the school’s lane. They had one room for guests and the other one was the master-bedroom of the family. The facility of kitchen and bathroom was not there in that shack. The food was cooked on the wooden ground on the floor and the utensils and clothes were washed at the tap in the school. Hospitality being an integral part of the Pashtun culture, the people from nearby villages were used to be a regular feature at her home.

Family

After about two years, of her birth, Malala’s younger brother Khushal born. Even at the time of Malala’s birth, the family could not afford a hospital and the same scenario was repeated at this time too. The Yousafzai family could not afford the hospital and Khushal was also born with the help of a local midwife (daai). The son was named after the great poet Khushal Khan Khattak, a warrior who was also a great poet. The name of the school was also Khush-haal. Her mother’s joys knew no bound, as she was desperately waiting to have a son. It was never like that she did not like her daughter, she doted on her, yet the newborn used to be the apple of Tor Pekai’s eyes. It seemed like his wish was like commands to Malala’s mother. He used to love the traditional tea with milk, sugar and cardamom. Her mother though loved to cook for him, but she became so tired with his daily longing for tea, that she started preparing very bitter tea and in the process of this one day he stopped asking for it. Malala’s mother wanted to buy a new cradle for her son, but her father was adamant to use the same that Malala used. He used to question his wife why can he not use the old one in which Malala had swung. He used to say if Malala could use the old one so should he. Some off five years later, Atal came into their lives, the younger most boy of the family. Malala was more close to Khushal, as he was just two years younger to her. But they used to have the regular brother sister fights that every pair of siblings use to have. They both used to go to their saviors, i.e. her brother to the mother and she to her father. Her father used to ask her in his regular and loving tone, What’s wrong Jaani? This was a usual sight at the Yousafzai’s home. As per Malala, her mother is very beautiful and her father used to adore her to the core. He has always taken care of her, as if she is a fragile china vase, which would break if he would lay his hands on her. Her father has never ever laid his hands on her mother, unlike other men, who would often ill-treat their wives. Her name ‘Tor Pekai’ meant ‘raven tresses’ but her hair is chestnut brown in color. Her maternal grandfather, Jashner Khan was listening to the Afghanistan Radio when her mother was born, he heard the name. She had lily-white skin and fine features with walnut-green colored eyes. But Malala had inherited her features and skin from her father lineage, which was a sallow complexion, wide nose and brown colored eyes.

Pashtuns keep nicknames of their children and so had Malala. She was called ‘Pisho’ by her mother since she was a baby, but some of her cousins used to call her ‘Lachi’, which meant ‘cardamom’ in Pashto. Nicknames are usually funny names, such as Black skinned people are called as white and short and stout people are called as tall. Her father, who did not have very sharp features, was called as ‘Khaista Dada’, which meant beautiful. She remembered the time when she would have been around four, when she asked her father, Abba, what color you are? and he replied being unaware about it. All he replied was that he was a mix of white and black color. With sheer innocence, Malala replied it is the same color that comes when tea is mixed with milk. He laughed his heart out realizing the innocence with which the little one replied. But as she grew old, she got to know that he was very much conscious of his color, but eventually became comfortable in his skin as he got married to her mother. Being loved by a beautiful girl, gave his confidence.

Though, Pashtuns belong to a conventional society, where the match is usually fixed by the families of the girl and boy, but, her parents’ were fixed by their hearts. Malala had heard the story of how the chain of events turned into their wedding, a number of times; both her paternal and maternal grandfathers were not very fond of each other. So when her father was trying to seek their nod for his wedding with Malal’s mother, Tor Pekai, neither of them welcomed the proposal. Her paternal grandfather said that it was upto him if he is really interested in tying this nuptial knot, when her father nodded his head in affirmation, then he agreed to send a barber as messenger. Her maternal grandfather refused the proposal, but seeing how stubborn her father is, her paternal grandfather again sent the barber. Her maternal grandfather made her father waited till nine months to see how serious he is and then agreed reluctantly to the match. Her mother belongs to the family of strong women and influential men. Her great grandmother was widowed at a very young age and her eldest son was locked up because of a tribal feud. The young lady traveled around forty miles all alone, on her feet, over mountains and terrains to request an influential cousin of hers to get her son released.

Malala was very sure that if it would have been her, her mother would have taken the same step with the same amount of dedication though her mother was not educated, but for her father she was his best friend. He shared everything with her. He told her how his day went, what all he did whether it was good or bad. She, as a friend would tease him, advise him and would ensure that she tried to clear his doubts and queries as per her understanding. Most Pashtun males did not do that, as it was seen as if a man was weak if he sought advice from his wife. For them it was an insult, if a man took advice or shared his problems with his wife. The same Pashtun menfolk mentality is dominant even now!

Malala’s mother was very religious and virtuous lady, for her offering namaaz five times a day was like breathing though she did not go to mosque as women were not allowed in there, but she offered her prayers very religiously five times a day. Unlike Malala she didn’t like dancing, as per her norms Allah (God) would never ever approve that. Like every other woman, she loved to decorate herself with jewelry, embroidered clothes, and pretty ornaments. Malala was unlike her mother, but more like her father, as almost every girl of her age would be. She thought she was a disappointment to her mother and other females, as she was less feminine in all such matters. She did not like going to the market daily and preferred dancing behind closed doors in her house with her peers.

Children in most south-eastern countries while growing up spend more time with their mothers than their fathers. Same was the case with Malala, her father used to be very busy with all the school stuff. Even he was an active participant in the literary societies and was an active environmentalist, who actively participated in processions and programs that used to take place to save the Swat. Though Mr. Yousafzai was from a backward village, but education helped him in grooming his personality and making his thought process wider and better. He had made a good living for himself and eventually he succeeded in giving his family a better future and a better environment, if not outside at least inside the house.

Her father was an eminent speaker of the valley, locals loved to hear him. There was a huge crowd of guests almost every day in their house. They used to have dinner together, on a plastic sheet that her mother used to