The Alchemist – my take

Very rarely we come across some pieces of art – be it a music piece, a painting, a poem or a novel, that opens up a new window in front of our eyes. And I believe that it is the responsibility of the artists or authors or poets to do that, if not again and again but at least for once in a life time. I found Alchemist opening some hidden windows of my mind that I never really realized that existed so strongly!

When I heard the name of the book for the first time, I wondered what this book deals with. The name suggested being some theory on alchemy – the study of chemistry practiced in the middle ages that involved changing base metals into gold. So I was not at all interested.

My first acquaintance with the writing of Paulo Coelho happened with ‘Like the Flowing Rivers’. I instantly fell in love with the immense sense of spirituality that his thoughts carried.

After that I was in a look out for Alchemist and recently I was able to borrow it from a colleague of mine. The book teasers never really interest me and this one saying - “A magic fable about following your dream” also could not arouse any interest in me. So I started reading it only because it’s written by Paulo Coelho remembering all the good and bad feedbacks I got about it.

What I felt was that the novel is all about positivity. It talks about the positive energy of life, the positive approaches of the world and the positive signs of the universe, which are termed here as omens. How rightly! The metaphors and symbols are so true. The king, the desert, the oasis, the war – everything is so meaningful to everybody’s life if we treat them as a reason to something!

And the statement - “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” is so true! I have experienced the force of nature, the omens so many times in my life but I really never thought that way! A mere book can’t really change the life of a reader but it may definitely influence the perception in a very strong way; if not permanently then definitely for a good long amount of time.

Nothing can make Christmas merrier!!!

Paulo Coelho wishing for Christmas that also with his special Christmas tale ----- sounds too good to be true? Well, that's exactly what happened to me. Today I just logged in my Gmail and got this mail from none other than Paulo Coelho wishing Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! No wonder, nothing can be as good as getting wish from a favorite author!!!

Preface of the story-

My friend Vidhi gifted me Like the Flowing Rivers by Paulo Coelho last year on my birthday. This was the first time I was reading his writing and instantly I got hooked to his extraordinary sense of spirituality. I took no time to search him in the wiki and got hold of his personal website and blog. In his personal website I got a page where viewers can write message to Paulo Coelho and I wrote one to him. To my extreme surprise, he replied to my message from his personal e-mail id! The day I got that mail, I was literally about to fall from the chair as it was so much unanticipated and unexpected! But it was true as it was signed by him only. This was one of the moments that I will never forget in my life......