Santiago's journey

I do not usually read fiction, but this time I decided I would give Paul Coelho a try as I happen to keep chancing upon his books again and again. I had a glimpse of his name in one of the book reviews in The Straits Times, saw a girl reading it while waiting to register for my masters course and lastly, in a bookshop that stock piles and piles of his titles.

So, I chose The Alchemist, in which the main character Santiago, a Spanish shepherd boy whom left his comfort zone of tending his sheep to go to the Pyramids of Eqypt in search of a treasure that he had dreamt during one of his one night stays in a broken down church.

From then on, he makes the journey to the pyramids and thus starting the spiritual adventure of his lifetime. If you in for a spoiler, click on the link to Wikipedia and the full story will be there.

Its was splendid light reading for me as I could feel being Santiago being caught in a dilemma on whether to pursue his Personal Legend or stay in his comfort zone as a shephard, and also after falling in love with the girl in the oasis.

Maybe, we all hope we are Santiagos as we live in our everyday routine, with dreams of our own which we want to fulfill. But yet we have fears and contradictory thoughts of pursuing the very dreams we so really wish we can. Or maybe most of us just want to be the like crystal glass merchent who is so afraid to fufill his dream of going to Mecca as it would mean he would then have nothing to live for.

In it, Santiago struggles after leaving, and it says clearly with his conversation with the alchemist:

"Why do we have to listen to our hearts" the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.

"Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."

"But my heart is agitated." the boy said, "It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and its become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I'm thinking about her."

"Well, thats good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say."

The story at the end was a pleasant surprise for me, and I smiled to myself how this simple tale could actually lift my spirits up. I must say I did not regret reading this fiction book on a late Sunday afternoon rather than the two other books I normally juggle with. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and Critical Mass: How one thing leads to another by Philip Ball was just too heavy for me after a long tiring week of work in the office.

I guess, in terms of pursuing our dreams, we may have our doubts over whether to give up our existing safe and contented state of life to uncertainty, but as always there is a price to pay in such situations.

But what is important that as what the alchemist had said. Listen to your heart it is alive. It may prove to be a satisfying end result as what Santiago had experienced. I will be looking to continue some of other Coelho books. Good light reading that lifts your soul on a lazy weekend yeah.