This
is very first time I'm writing about a book, my experiences with any
book. But because I, thought now to write just about a single page
everyday, I want to write almost everything, either about a book, a
social cause, a celebrity birthday, personal experience or anything
that I feel I've to write because when you're learning something
good, continuous practice is only a way remains to amend and alter
that learning. An only way that gives you an idea what you're doing
(either reading / writing in this case) is false or right. Moreover
the best way to learn, is to be very polite whenever learning
something new.
As
I mentioned earlier, I'm writing today because I feel very free. :-) I've lot of completed books in my shelf and have many
options to pick any one of them to write about, besides I decided to
write and start about a book, I liked most and is in my all-time
best-loved listing, "The
ALCHEMIST".
“The
ALCHEMIST” - A book and the author of book, “Paulo Coelho”, in
today's era needs not an introduction, probably for the people who
are voracious reader and want to read those omnipotent books that
keeps a knowledge to force the people to read and to think and to
bring an enormous change in their life. A book that was translated in
more than seventy languages world wide and sold-out more than thirty
million copies. This gave Coelho the position as the world's most
translated living author. A critically acclaimed book crossed the
boundaries of being in category of just being a book, and has taken a
life of its own, creating a movement all around the globe. It's not
only a book that binds us to read the fable besides It's an
inspirational fable, it's about our own self discovery, it's about
awakening your passions, it's about following your heart, embracing
life as a journey and finding the courage to chase our own dreams.
In
the year 2005, the first time when I completed this book and was
highly impressed, not because of the word ability of author (Because
it is originally written in Portuguese by Brazilian author Paulo
Coelho and translated later in English and surly translation affects
the quality of writing). But I could not get into this writing style.
At all. I felt like it was totally impressed. But somewhere in my
life I forgot about the book and again suggested by one of my friend
to read. I forgot about this book as such even I was not aware about
the cover page and then the story. I started to read and as story
moves, I smiled and reminiscence my memory with this book when I
completed first time. This is one of those book in my shelf, I can
read thousand times and silently can pick it like a fresh one. When
coming to book, this is a simple fable about the way of life, choices
we made in our life and the most important is chasing the dream of
our life, that almost all inspirational books comprises, yet the
easygoing content of book takes us on a journey of period of time.
Paulo Coelho's story is a short and simple one, an inspirational
parable about the importance of pursuing one's dreams.
######## A Summary ########
This
is a tale of an Andalusian shepherd who travels from his homeland in
Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the
Pyramids. The story begins with a young Andalusian shepherd boy
Santiago sleeping under a sycamore on barren lands. He sets out to
locate treasure, which he dreamed was hidden in the dusty lands of
Egyptian Pyramids. A Gypsy who interpreted his dream told him to go
to the Pyramids of Egypt to search and unearth the treasure. And thus
he set out in quest for the treasure. On his way he meets
Melchizedek – King of Salem – who tells him that he will help him
to guide the path to search the treasure if he gives one-tenth of his
sheep.
On his way, he lost his all money to a thief in the middle of
marketplace, later he works with a crystal merchant in the same
market to earn money to buy some sheep to go back to home and forget
the dream he had one night. He works there for almost a year and then
sets off on his journey again, because the Omens he has, told him to
continue his Journey. On his way through the African desert he meets
a girl called Fatima, who tells him: “if I am really part of your
dream, you will come back one day”.
On his journey he meets an
Englishmen who was in search of an “Alchemist” to learn the
chemical process to convert the element in Gold. In an oasis he meets
the Alchemist, who teaches him the language of the world, telling
him: “Don't think about what you've left behind; everything is
written in the soul of the world and there it will stay forever.”
On their way the alchemist and the shepherd are taken captive by
tribesmen dressed in blue who take them to a nearby military camp
thinking they are spies. To make the tribesmen believe, the boy had
to accept their challenge and turn into wind and after the wind stops
he comes to know about the soul of the world.
He finally arrives at
the Pyramids of Egypt. As he starts digging for the treasure, he is
surrounded by the refugees of the tribal wars who ask him “What are
you hiding there?” The boy pleads that he was digging for a
mysterious treasure. The leader of the group says he too had a dream
where he saw a treasure in the fields of Spain, where shepherds and
their sheep slept under a ruined church with a sycamore growing out
of it. But he was not so stupid as to cross an entire desert just
because of a dream. So the boy comes to understand the place of his
treasure and he is able to realize that the greatest treasure is he
himself. He return back to same place from where he started his
journey to find his treasure.
"When
you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so
that your wish comes true". This is the core of the novel's
philosophy. This
book is brilliantly written to realize to chase our own dream. It
touches your heart as the story comes to an end. It teaches that
every treasure lies in our own hearts and there is no need to search
for it in the outside world. Search yourself and you get the world. I
personally feel “THE ALCHEMIST” must be read by all people. It
nourishes your mind and helps you to realize many truths.
Regards
Dhitendra
Keep Smiling :-)
