(797) Caravans

This is a book among other giants like Centennial and Hawaii. Since the book is no longer with me, I better not run the risk of misspelling the author's name.

I read Caravans in my early twenties. It passed my hands recently and I read almost one third of it before the book and I parted company. Memories of how it ended came flashing back to me when I reached the part that the officials narrowed down the possibilities(what happened to her) to three. An American girl married an Afghan and for eighteen months she disappeared. Her American family was frantic; not knowing whether she died, was imprisoned by her husband or his family.

My reactions to the book and what the author was trying to bring across changed in the intervening years between the two readings. Many years ago, I thought well, the poor girl had the right to choose her own destiny. If she perishes, at least she dies looking for her star. Now, as the mother of idealistic daughters, I almost cried feeling the helplessness of her parents.

At this point, you are probably wondering if I have rebellious daughters. Well, not exactly! But my son Michael loves all the wide open spaces like the girl portrayed in Caravans. He fell in love with all the remote spots, huge mountains and deep jungles. The off beaten tracks beacon him. For him, there will be no home loans to repay. He will probably be driving others' cars for many more years. He will be foot loose and fancy free until he meets the one girl or woman who chooses to globe trot with him surviving on a small back pack.

Therefore it is with mix feelings that I decided not to finish the book. I will live with the first impressions I have from the earlier reading. For most of us, we are tame with our civilization that brought comfort. Perhaps there is one or two rare ones in a million individuals, they may not value the daily conveniences enough to live near the hearth. Their lives will be in the wilderness and the far off unnamed places. They may take pictures for a living. Or they may be researchers commuting between a university campus and their research objects: people or geographical features or animals.  And it looks like I have helped to create one of this race of rare individuals by developing my son's horizons to include the inhospitable terrains as possible places to inhabit.