The Alchemist

The Author himself calls it a “magical fable about following your dream”. It really is. The terms used and incidents described in the story are quite mystical, magical. It may not be digestable for a youth living in the world of modern science. But throughout the story author has maintained a flow that makes reading it a thrilling experience. The characters that he portrays in his tale about the boy Santiago, catches our attention. Everybody has something to talk about the philosophy of life. They may seem contradictory to us on the outset but speaks on the same platform. Moreover we find ourselves in many of them.

Lot of mystical terms like ‘the elixir of life’, ‘philosophers stone’, ‘Alchemist’ etc are splendid in the story. We can read about a boy speaking to the desert, wind, sun, and the ‘hand who created them all’. The Author introduces concepts like ‘The soul of the world’, ‘language of the world’ etc. He says once our soul gets into harmony with the Soul of the world, we can understand the language of the world. We can even transform ourselves in to wind or anything we wish to. Here we smell the lavender of Indian spiritual science.

Author discusses in detail about the destiny of everything living or non-living. He emphasizes on the importance of living out ones own destiny, for which he is created. He points out four reasons which prevent a person from realizing his destiny. Those are relevant for anyone who has dreams and wants to achieve them. We can find a lot of examples in ourselves which seconds them.

Santiago had a dream of a boy telling him about a hidden treasure. He had chosen to be shepherd against his father’s wish of becoming a priest. He goes in search of the treasure selling out his folk. On the way he meets many obstracles. The way he revives from each setback he receives is amazing. It really makes the reader think what he would do if he were in the same situation. The boy meets an alchemist on his way to the treasure. An Alchemist is a saintly person who understands the soul of the world. He can transform any material to gold and live countless number of years. Actually the title role plays a supporting role to Santiago, the shepherd boy, providing him with enough guidance to reach his treasure, to live his destiny. The story goes through unexpected scenarios and the climax becomes the most thrilling one.

The book has really made a mark in the history of literature with 20Million copies sold world wide and translated into 42 languages. It is no wonder that The Alchemist is counted a publishing phenomenon.

My Country, My Life

The Nation Witnessed a grand book release at the capital few weeks ago. It was the release of an autobiography of a renowned politician. India has not seen such an event for long, Nehru being the last in the list.
The book is very large with 800+ pages, and depicts the post independent India's political scenario very beautifully. It also describes the relation with his friend and Guru Sri. Atal Bihari Vajpayeee. Their comradeship is something uncommon in Indian politics. Working together for such long periods, under the same umbrella, in spite of differences over many issues...

Traversing through the book we develop a kind of respect for Advani. He has shown the courage to talk about all the issues that were controversies in the past, at that point of time when he is projected as the Prime Minister candidate of his party. He has not changed any of his views expressed earlier. He repeats that 6ht of December 1992 was a black day in his life This is stated when he is believed to be a pro Hindu leader by all, and the major share of his supporters belong to that fold. Also even if he tries to project himself as a secular person by such statements, that is not going to help him. The result will be he loosing his own ground support and gaining none. Still in such a scenario he has reiterated what he has said earlier!
Another such statement was during his Pakistan yathra in 2005. He had quoted Jinnah in his speech which was misunderstood by his own political comrades (presented in such a way by the media), which eventually lead to removal of his crown as the supremo of the party. Still he has given the title of the chapter where he mentions this incident as I have no regrets!
This courage, political honesty makes him eligible to be called the Loh Purush (Iron Man).

Another important thing that stuck me was the way he has narrated the incidents through out the book. We don't feel that we are reading an autobiography but a book on History, and at times a story of his party. He has used more ink to portray the historical incidents in our Nation, of course from his perspective. He has also used space lavishly to tell the story of his party and 6 years of the NDA Govt at the center. So it has been an Autobiography with a difference