Nothing happens overnight

I happened to read this book "Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, last month. A lot of people have told me that it was one book that nobody should ever miss, glad I read it finally. Better late than never.

I loved the way the author approaches whatever he wanted to convey. The outline of the story is very simple. It is about how a boy finds his treasure. But it has a lot of value in it. This, and the other book I mentioned in my first post "Excuses Begone", imparts a lot of similar values, but I like this book more. This was story-like, as opposed to the other, and you are forced(motivated) to finish reading it, only then will you know what the treasure was and where he found it.

This shepherd boy who lives in Spain, dreams of a treasure at the pyramids in Egypt, but doesn't know if it is something that he should go in search of. After meeting up with a dream interpreter and an old king, he decides to go in search of the treasure. For him to go to the pyramids, he has to sail to Africa and then cross the Sahara desert, which wasn't an easy task then. He reached Africa, all his money got stolen at a bar, he met a crystal merchant and started working for him, hoping to save some money and go to the pyramids. He worked there for a year, met a person at the warehouse who was going to Egypt on a caravan and set out on his journey. After a long and deadly journey, they reached the oasis where they stayed for a couple of months(due to tribal wars) and he set out again with the Alchemist, long after which he reaches the pyramids.

What fascinated me most - The boy didn't even know for sure if there existed a treasure at all. It was a risk that he took. Of-course, throughout the journey there were lots of instances when he thought he would go back home, but he chose to seek the treasure. One of the reasons, "I always was a shepherd and can go back and be one anytime". I could really put myself in this situation. I was always working(job), and could go back to it anytime. But the time that I have now is to find what I am really passionate about and proceed in that direction. I hope I succeed.

And I know that success doesn't come overnight. I cannot start doing something today and expect to see the "positive" result tomorrow, which the boy in the story never did. He, going in search of the treasure was by itself a huge risk and the time that he patiently waited and worked for it fully knowing that there are all chances for him to fail, is completely laudable, unlike me, who was flipping through the pages of the book restlessly, hoping that the boy would get to the treasure ASAP :)

A standing example is Anna Hazare. I read about him only after his recent "Fast unto death", but apparently he has been working for this cause for several years now, and it all finally paid off. I salute him!!!

The author doesn't impose anything on you, you can believe what you construe, and I adored this idea. A lot of very important things are portrayed very subtly, and I'm sure I missed a lot of what was said. Knowing what to expect from the book now, a second reading might be of a greater help.