The Gift of Nawruz

The story of Yasir, a young Afghan who becomes a boxer and follows his family to Iran, travels alone to the United States and finally returns to Afghanistan where he becomes a policeman Nawruz, the Persian festivity, which lands at the time of the spring equinox, is a recurring theme in the story about Yasir,  a young Afghan from Herat who discovers that he has a talent for boxing during a traditional picnic with his family on the day of Nawruz.  He spent his childhood during the rule of the Taliban and one day his family decides to move to Iran where he continues to box, winning the intercontinental middleweight amateur title. After the ousting of of the Taliban, Yasir and his family return to Herat where his father, a well-known doctor meets an American colleague who offers Yasir the chance to be a professional boxer in the United States. Far from home, Nawruz continues to illuminate Yasir’s life until, in the midst of a brilliant career in professional boxing, he decides to leave the United States to return to his deeply changed homeland.