The Alchemist (A fable about following your dreams) -Paulo Coelho 

What could be considered the zest of ‘The Alchemist’ fable, ‘pursue even at odds what our heart knows is right (for us)’ is the answer I got. They say, the hour just before the dawn, is the darkest and it is then we tend to give in. From those who are for creating/breaking records to those dealing with their own personal endeavour if we push ourselves and keep going for some more time then... we have it. When we reach ‘there’ the destination may be immaterial and make us forget what we have been through but the entire voyage would have taught us a lot.

Writing a review for ‘The Alchemist’ isn’t easy. If a thought appeals to one, it is believed hours of repeating to ourselves and practice is needed to infuse it to life and the book has many of such beliefs.

To start, Alchemists are the practitioners of Alchemy. Alchemy is turning base metals into noble metals like gold or silver (conferring youth and immortality)...  the meaning that appealed to me is transforming a thing of less value to great value and this happens when we come to know what we are called for and need to do. In other words what’s life’s fulfilment for you? We are speaking of life’s fulfilment so it is not relevant only to present but even to our future more precisely, “will we be happy doing/ having it no matter what” It could be specific like travelling and finding a treasure for shepherd boy Santiago or something boundless. This should let us know our objectives and priorities.

What is valuable to one may not be for other.  If we find and believe ‘this is it’ and why we are here, it becomes priceless.

 Am akin to mentioning the lines that caught reading:

“... if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of god, you help the soul of the world and you understand why you are here.”

“...ever since he had been a child, he had wanted to know the world, and this was much more important to him than knowing god and learning about man’s sins.”

“...most important, he was able every day to live out his dream.”

“By the time he had enough of....he would have already known other chances to be happy”

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

 “...at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie:”

“We make a lot of detours, but we are always heading for the same direction”

“...I don’t live either in my past or my future. I’m interested only in present. If you can concentrate always on present, you’ll be a happy man...because life is the moment where you are living right now.” (“Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that god loves his children.”)

“Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.” “...it’s not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it’s not love to see everything from a distance...” “... when we love we always strive to become better than we are”

“...when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”

“If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back.”

 “Listen to your heart, it knows all things...” “Don’t give in to your fears, if you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.”

“... life really is generous to those who pursue their destiny...”

And more...

Not to forget checking out, if at all Santiago unearthed the treasure but what he transformed himself into.

We are fortunate enough to study the wisdom shared by innumerable novelists, ‘The alchemist’ is one such book which one would like to go through again. It was a good but a short escapade, once you grab it you will not want to put it back.