About the Author

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer, he was born in Rio in August 1947. Paulo is basically a journalist, lyricist, and a writer; He is a world-famous writer for several books (The Pilgrimage, The fifth mountain, Manual of the warrior of light).

The content in brief (The Alchemist)

Everyone has dreams but very few people of us attempt to fulfil our dreams. To follow our dream, that first step must be taken place boldly and work towards the goal until we achieve. The Alchemist is a drama which was narrated in such a way to live the life without taking the back step. To me, life itself is a drama we play our roles without knowing the actual story of it. We never know the role of each character that gets into our lives until we realize their importance.

The Alchemist, is the journey of a boy named Santiago who followed his dream. Then what does ‘The Alchemist’ mean? The Alchemist is a person who purifies metals in a laboratory. Is Santiago an Alchemist? No, he is a Shepard. Santiago believes that there is a treasure near pyramids in Egypt and he wants to own it. It is an excessively big dream for a Shepard however, he wanted to follow it, the soul of the world always supports a person who determined to fulfil his/her dreams. An old king encouraged him to follow the dream, he sold his sheep and carried the money to travel to Egypt. The journey started, initially, Santiago was cheated and stolen the money by a co-passenger. How did he survive? How did he spend nearly one year in Africa? What made him to start his journey towards his dream again? How did he travel the desert to reach Egypt? How was the journey in caravan? Who is the Englishman and why did he want to meet The Alchemist? How did Santiago and the Englishman became friends, and finally, how did he fulfil his dream is all about the story.

The most important part of the journey is, his love with Fatima in the oasis. However, he continued his journey to the Pyramids leaving her. Finally, he realized that no project is fulfilled until the objective is achieved. What is the objective? The treasure? He realized that Fatima is his treasure, for whom his tears had fallen? For whom his heart had been beating. A classic love story.

Take away from the drama

1. Struggle for existence.
2. How to follow a dream.
3. There is a language to communicate everything, it may not have a script and voice. For instance, even wind also has a language. We need to observe it and feel it.

Highlights from the book

1. What is the world’s greatest lie? Santiago asked, it is this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what is happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That is the world’s greatest lie.
2. Everything on the earth is being continuously transformed because the earth is alive, and it has a soul.
3. When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.
4. Wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure.

Enjoy reading,

Yours,

Narasimha Mohan.

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