NIFT, here I come!

[A rather silly rich chick asked my friend MJ to help her out with her application to NIFT. One of the questions on the application form was: “Write on one book that you have read recently which has influenced you”. This girl wanted MJ to write a book review on The Alchemist for her. MJ’s a busy girl, so she delegated the task to me. I was happy to oblige.]


One-book-that-I've-been-influenced-by-recently— is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It tells the story of a simple shepherd boy called Santiago who dreams of a hidden treasure, and travels far from home to find it. On the way he has many adventures; falls in love; and meets many interesting people who offer him advice on life, the universe and everything. To cut a (by my standard) long story short, in the end he gets the gold and the girl and lives happily ever after.

Why have I chosen this book? Well, even a shallow intellect like mine can understand that Sidney Sheldon and Danielle Steele are not the best choices in answer to your question. With my extensive reading (two to three half-finished books a year; that's one better than my friends), The Alchemist was inevitable. I do realise that every third person will be writing about The Alchemist for this question, but I didn't have much of a choice.

Of course, if so many wildly excited people had not recommended this book to me I would never have read it. My equally silly friends waxed eloquent in their limited vocabulary in praise of the book: “It is so niiiiiice! You'll looooooove it! You muuuuuust read it! Just must!!” I am very glad I did, for it changed my life forever for a couple of days.

The story is told in the form of a fable and is thus written in a simple language. Lucky for me, or else my juvenile mind would not have followed the narrative. Not that I am capable of explaining the simple symbolism in the story, but I have vaguely grasped what the author is trying to say...thingy...I think. Don't ask me to put it in words.

Another helpful factor was the complete lack of characterisation which would otherwise have complicated the story, given it more depth, and challenged my faculties of comprehension. Every stranger Santiago meets talks like they are quoting books on self-improvement. Every character down to the camel-driver has to throw in his two-cents worth.

Pumped up by this book, I eagerly started on another book by Coelho, but my interest fizzled out after a few chapters. Maybe it was because Zee Cine Awards was to be shown at the same time as Kasautii Zindagii Kay and I had to make up my mind which one to watch. This was no light decision and required heavy thought, since I would have to be ready with my banal comments when my gang would discuss them when we would meet the next day. I haven't read any other book by Coelho (or any novel that's not a bestseller) but during my initial wave of enthusiasm I did buy two others. Does that count? The reviews on the back cover mentioned “The Alchemist”...

It is not surprising that materialistic philistines like us are “deeply affected” by books like The Alchemist. People like us don't have a sense of wonder in the first place and are in constant need of artificial stimulants. On top of that we have read so little that we won't realise that this book says nothing new. As it is we are suckers for profoundly philosophical statements like “Follow your dreams” and “Listen to your heart” which are liberally sprinkled throughout this book, along with similar trite observations on “the Soul of the World” (which, I am proud to say, I can pretend to understand better than my other friends). It seems that Robin Sharma, Richard Bach, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and other such pundits collaborated on the book. Of course none of us are actually going to practise what Coelho preaches—we have neither the courage nor the sensitivity.

In-conclusion-I-would-say-that— The Alchemist is inspirational, transcendental, fascinating, magical: in other words, the usual crap that moves us into raptures of ecstasy. I can't find fit words to describe it—these last four were copied from back of the paperback. In fact I did not even write this essay myself. I googled for a review but even copy-pasting that was too tiresome, and required a minimum level of intelligence and imagination that I am bereft of. So I asked a friend of mine to write it for me. She's very sweet and pretty but rather dark. An expensive visit to my mother's beauty parlour would do wonders for her hair and my mom's bank balance. I just copy-pasted what she sent to me without even reading it first. Now that I've answered your question may I get into NIFT, please? If you are worried about standards and stuff, I assure you that it won't make any difference—this country's headed nowhere as it is.