An Unseen Apologue

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  Malala Yousafzai

We all have pretty much heard a lot of tales about the inspiring life of Malala but did you know how everything really started? Well, the Detectives of Team Editorial magnified the little aspects of her life just for you, so sit back as you time-travel into Malala’s world with us.

Malala was just an eleven year old writing a diary for BBC Urdu but the way she wrote was so mesmerizing the media couldn’t help but bring her to our eyes. Her writings would paint others a picture of life under Taliban rule. Who would’ve imagined that a girl extremely ambitious about being a doctor would later turn out to be one of the strongest women in history to rebel against prohibitions of women’s right to education?

Though she is seen as a face of courage and bravery, at the end of the day, she was just a teenager as well. Just like us, she was a scared rager. Her entries portray her emotions in the rawest way possible.

Being just another girl from Mingora, her courageous voice had to be shadowed by anonymity otherwise she would have invited death to her door.

“On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. I hastened my pace… to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.”

– Malala’s quote from one of her entries.

“I am of the view that the school will one day reopen but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again.”

 14 January, 2009

The youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala was shot straight in the head at the age of fifteen. However, she survived that attack and proved that if in any way, this incident had affected her, it was only to make her stronger and braver.

Her parents were terrified for her life as well but they always stood up for Malala. They made sure she was safe and she received support and encouragement in her activism. The idea for the blog was even that of her father Ziauddin, who used to run a local private school.

"Of course, it was a risk [to let her write the blog]", he told BBC Outlook in January this year, "But I think that not talking was a greater risk than that because then ultimately we would have given in to the slavery and the subjugation of ruthless terrorism and extremism."

Not only did this influence Malala to give in to her greatness, but it also gave her a push to reach where she stood for such a long time. She was well aware about her parents’ encouragement and one of her entries proves this.

“Today, I also read the diary written for the BBC (in Urdu) and published in the newspaper. My mother liked my pen name ‘Gul Makai’ and said to my father ‘why not change her name to Gul Makai?’ I also like the name because my real name means ‘grief stricken’. My father said that some days ago someone brought the printout of this diary saying how wonderful it was. My father said that he smiled but could not even say that it was written by his daughter.”

Malala talking about her parents in one of her blogs.

Such precious memories are always the ones untold in the stories of the brave. She mentioned how her father had promised her that the government would protect their schools since he knew how important it was not only for Malala, but her lookout for other women like her.

“I told my brothers that we will not talk of war but peace from now on.”

In one of her other entries, she also mentioned how everyone was so afraid of the noise of helicopters that they would hide themselves but then one day, toffees were thrown from the choppers and this went on for a few days. It abruptly stopped as well but the children would always wait for the toffees to fall from the sky. Perhaps, Malala herself was one of them.

 Malala, a girl so brave around violence, is also the girl who chose peace over everything.

Well, the detectives went around the corner sniffing on the innocent and wholesome side of Malala’s life and they would sincerely like an appreciation since they managed to do this investigation without the help of Miss Walls. Currently, we do not know the whereabouts of Miss Walls and based on her skills, I don’t think anyone else does either. The aim of this investigation was to let all the peasants know that behind every warrior’s story, there are tears of their families and themselves left behind.