The Alchemist by PAULO COELHO

Book: The Alchemist
Author:  Paulo Coelho
Publication Year: 1988 (Portuguese) 1993 ( English)

' Maktub' - It's written

Twenty years ago, I was so excited for I was going to enrol myself in a library. I was 17 then. Books were a distant reality until then. Strangely, I don't remember the first two books which I took from the library but the one I bought from a shop keeper who had set up his shop on a portable cart. He was of my age and was selling second-hand books. With the meagre pocket money I was getting at that time, I could afford only second-hand books.

And I bought ' The Alchemist'. It changed my life. I knew about dreams but this book taught me how to dream. There's a huge difference between the two. For the first time, I realised that by pursuing your destiny, you are coming into close contact with the creator. It gave me goosebumps when I absorbed that idea for the first time.

As Paulo Coelho says in his book " Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of his dreams because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and with eternity."

The story is about a boy called Santiago who had dreamt of a treasure and was in pursuit of it. He inspired the universe as he dared to pursue his destiny. Like him, the author says everyone has a destiny and to reach there, one has to listen to his heart. For that, he has to be truthful to himself.

"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.'

I think the story assumes different dimensions at different stages of your life. When I read it 20 years ago, I grasped only the basics because I was a naive girl with little experience. Time flew by and my experiences made me capable of comprehending the much more deeper meanings. I am sure, many years down the line, I would grasp more things.

Coelho says it is the fear that's holding us back from achieving our destiny.

"Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place."

"We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions or our property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”

Along the way to your destiny, your determination will have to undergo several tests.

What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

Years later when I met the shopkeeper he owned two book shops. Perhaps that's his destiny.

Some more quotes which I hold close to my heart:-

• "When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed."
• "Your eyes show the strength of your world."
• "When something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well."
• " Anyone who interferes with the destiny of another thing will never discover the destiny of his own.
• " Remember, the world is only the visible aspect of God. And that what Alchemy does is to bring spiritual perfection into contact with the material plane."
• " Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart."

- by Shalet Jimmy

The Unexpected Guest by AGATHA CHRISTIE

The Unexpected Guest 
Author: ( A Play by Agatha Christie)
Adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne
Screened Year: 1958 

To put readers on tenterhooks from the first page to the last needs a skill. It's not a prerequisite that every mysteries or thriller should possess that salient feature. Out of the 13 Agatha books, I have read ' The Unexpected Guest' had that quality.

See how the story opens.

It was a chilly November evening. The tree-lined country road in South Wales coast was shrouded in dense fog, the foghorn giving warning signals every now and then. Though there were a few houses, they were half a miles apart, giving the area a forlorn look.

Nearby a three storeyed mansion his car got stuck in a ditch. Sheer inability to take his vehicle out of it made him walk towards the bungalow.
 As his knocks were unanswered, he tried the lock and entered the mansion just to see a man dead in his wheel chair. He was shot and nearby stood a woman with a pistol in her hand.

Without any compulsion, she said she killed the man who was her husband. The suspense started building up when the unexpected guest promised to help her by manipulating the surroundings.

This reminded me of Linwood Barclay's ' No time to say Goodbye'. One day, Cynthia Bigge, a 14-year-old girl woke up to the dreadful fact that her father, mother and brother had vanished without a trace. Before going to bed, the other night she had seen them in flesh and blood and perfectly fine. She had to wait for 25 years to finally know what happened to them.

These kind of beginnings are capable enough to make the reader not to put down such books until they know what had really happened.

The Unexpected Guest is, in fact, a play by Agatha Christie later adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne, an acclaimed journalist, theatre and opera critic, poet and a novelist.

Coming back to our story, I was curious to know how would they manipulate the time of death. It was sure to be revealed during the autopsy. Starkwedder ( the unexpected guest) concocted a story to save Laura Warwick that he had heard a shot and a man came running from the mansion bumped into him dropping a gun and disappeared into the thick fog. It was certain that after the autopsy, the time of death would not match with the time when they said to have heard the shot. But as the story proceeded, I got my answer as it was happening in a night and a day.

Christie had scattered a lot of cues here and there to confuse the reader. Though at the outset, we tend to think that Laura might have committed the crime, we would soon come across many characters who could be possible suspects.

Unlike her other works, this book came across as one with a simple plot but loaded with suspense.

 Throwing an unexpected climax is not unusual as far as a Christie book is concerned. But what is always unusal is the sheer climax. 'The Unexpected Guest' is no exception.

Without revealing much, I would like to say that she had easily established one fact through this book that SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING.

Though she had high hopes for her Play Verdict like Mousetrap which gave about 2239 performances, the former failed to repeat the same success. Undeterred by the failure, she immediately came up with The Unexpected Guest which played for a week at the Bristol Hippodrame and then moved on to the Duchess Theatre in the West End of London where it gave about 604 performances in 18 months.

- by Shalet Jimmy 

The Painted Veil by W SOMERSET MAUGHAM

The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Publication date: 1925

It's not only our experiences that mould us but also the lesson we imbibe from them. Unfortunately, there are many who learns nothing from such experiences but not Kitty Fayne. 'The Painted Veil' tells the story of a woman's transformation from a worthless being to an awakened soul.

Kitty, the wife of Walter Fayne had her own reasons to justify her clandestine relationship with Charles Townsend. She never liked Walter, a bacteriologist working in Shangai where she meets Charles who unlike her husband was a popular government servant. She married Walter just because she was not getting any suitable proposal though she was garnering a lot of attention from most of the men around.

To her utter dismay, her sister who was not as popular as she was receives a decent proposal from a Duke and this forced Kitty to go for Walter. On the other hand, Walter was neck-deep in love with her and every hell broke loose when he found out her infidelity.

Though Kitty thought getting a divorce from him would not be a strenuous task, Walter's conditions for granting the divorce shattered her expectations.

He would divorce her if Charles divorced his wife Dorothy and promise to marry Kitty. If not, she would have to accompany him to cholera stricken Mei-tan- fu where people were dying like flies. She never doubted for a minute that Charles would disown her which was exactly what happened.
 Charles was more keen to hush up the issue by asking her to deny their relationship.

"Steady on, old girl," Charlie said. "A chap says a lot of things he doesn't mean with his trousers down. You go off with Walter; cholera isn't so bad as long as you don't get it. Must bolt!"
Kitty was quick to understand that Walter too expected the same reaction from Charles.

Perhaps, this episode sowed the first seed of awakening in Kitty.

If Charles did not agree to divorce his wife and Kitty still needed a divorce, it would come to her with a heavy price - charges of adultery. Hence, she was left with no other option but accompany Walter to cholera-stricken place.

Walter was fiercely in love with Kitty. He volunteered to go to the Cholera stricken place to punish himself for loving her. Though she realised her mistake and accepted it, Walter could not forgive her. At the same time, he also could not stop loving her. 

He says " I know you are worthless - still I loved."

He loved her knowing all her defects. Still, he expected a lot from her.

And with Kitty, though she developed a huge respect for Walter, she could not bring herself to love him. Human minds are strange and Maugham had delved deeply into the abyss of those human emotions.

Shallow and frivolous, Kitty is not a likeable character. But my heart went for her when she was telling Walter, tears streaming down her eyes that it was not her fault that she was brought up that way. Kitty was right when she asked Walter why did he assume her to be of a higher order when she was not.

The remark by Waddington that Charles wife knew about his flirtations and only second rate women could fall for him marred her self-esteem but brought her back to reality once again.

Walter's love for her was too fierce that he could not bear the news that she was pregnant with Charles' baby. Perhaps, this induced him to experiment the medicine for cholera on himself.

Even after Walter's death, she succumbed to Charles, but she was quick to shun the chapter of her life with Charles forever though she was pregnant with his baby.

Walter has little part to play, his presence literally swayed all through the book.

Sometimes, you have to pay a heavy price to learn the greatest lesson of your life. Kitty paid that price by losing Walter.

She is a perfect example of a ' Round Character'.

The work was serialised in Cosmopolitan starting from November 1924 and the book was eventually, published in 1925.
Loved the book.

- by Shalet Jimmy

Sandhya Iyer - Interview with a Book Reviewer ( Mesmerized by Maugham)

It's a matter of great relief that even after technological invasions, the art of reading has not diminished one bit. One of the best examples are the numerous blogs which speak only about books. When some do it professionally, some for the pure love of reading. Sandhya Iyer's blog belongs to the latter category. Hence, she is in no hurry to come up with the review of latest releases. Instead, she just ruminates over books of different genres and comes up with insightful reviews. Perhaps this might be the reason page hits on her blog never come down even when she leaves it unattended for almost a year. No doubt, her blog can be used as a reference material.

Sandhya's blog also lured me to read her favourite author Somerset Maugham. I am currently reading his  ' The Painted Veil'

If you love books and want to start a serious conversation on books, Sandhya's blog The Summing Up  is the right  platform for it.

Let me introduce her to you.

1. Sandhya, tell us about yourself.

If you ask from the point of view of career, then much of my time has been spent in various newsrooms. I started as a campus reporter at Midday, where I connected with some of the best and brightest names in journalism. My love for language was constant, and I think, without realising it, I had a deep interest in the business of information dissemination as well. I went on to work with The Times of India, Sakaal Times and The New India Express (Kochi). With both journalism and publishing careers being on the decline, it is important to consider fields where editorial skills would still be valuable but in a new context. Content publishing for brands is a growing field, and I do see myself gravitating towards it.

2. After reading your blog, I presume that Somerset Maugham is one of your favourite authors. Even your blog is named after his last work ' The Summing Up.’ How did you come to being his avid admirer?

I remember a friend showing me a film called 'The Painted Veil.' I was deeply touched by that experience, and I ended up reading the book on which the film was based. Soon, that book became one of my most favourite possessions, because everything in that novel - right from its genteel Edwardian setting, the powerful plot line, the searing insight it provides into the human condition, and its ability to be so perceptive about human weakness - spoke to me in a manner few others ever have. I was mesmerised by Maugham, and soon enough, I was devouring every one of his books. I was lucky he has a tall body of work, and the four years that it took me to read up his entire oeuvre gave me immeasurable happiness.

3. Your book reviews are insightful. You are concentrating not only on fiction but all genres. What is your criteria for selecting a book for reading and book reviewing?

Yes, my book blog is an indulgence for me, in that I don't necessarily review latest releases. In fact, most of the books that I have written about are classics or contemporary classics. I read and review as I please. I was doing a lot of book reviews for the newspapers I worked for, so that allowed me to keep my blog going.  Usually, though, I like to read books that I feel are relevant to my life phase in some sense. When I moved to Toronto, I had a deep urge to know more about Canada, and hence I took up books that could give me an insight into the country's cultural and political character. Now, that I am not reviewing professionally, I choose books with particular care.

4. When did you start blogging?

As early as 2007. I was doing a lot of writing anyway as a journalist, and maintaining a blog seemed like a logical thing to do.

5. I had never thought of buying a Kindle until a month ago when I realised that it is one of the best possible ways to read my favourite books without spending too much money. What is your take on e-books?

I haven't used Kindle yet, but I am sure I will like it a lot. Books for me are a way to get away from technology. I do a lot of short-form reading on my laptop, Ipad, and smart phone, but I tend to turn to physical books for immersive leisure reading. One of the reasons is because I currently have access to one of the best libraries, where practically any book can be found. I also tend to mark a lot of words and sentences, and then take notes later. But yes, there is no doubt that physical books are not going to be with us forever. They are already becoming scarce and in 50 years, they could well become a curious object like a cassette or typewriter.

6. Are you a fast reader? Do you also review every book you read?

I am not a fast reader necessarily, but I am a committed reader. When I'm reading a book that gives me endless joy and thrill, I actually tend to slow down my reading, so I can savour every word and phrase. I don't actually review all the books I read, for various reasons. Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by the writing that I can't summon up the courage to review it. But mostly, when I don't review a book I read, it is because of laziness and a lack of time.

7. You have another blog called ' Matinee Mix' which concentrates on movies. Unlike your book blog, it is not updated frequently. The reviews are insightful just like your book blog. Do you plan to revive it in the near future?

I was a film reporter for many years. I was always passionate about movies and had a thorough knowledge of the beat. I'm proud to have done some memorable interviews. Again, like my book blog, I started Matinee Mix because I was writing a lot on films. I haven't been updating that blog at all because my film viewing has drastically reduced. Also, whenever I feel like saying something about a film, I tend to post a few lines on FB or on some other film blog.

8. Most readers nurture a dream of being a writer? Do you have such a dream or a plan?

Definitely! The more you read, the better equipped you are to tell a story. There are no immediate plans, but I do see myself writing a short story at the very least. I think we can agree that pursuing a writing career is not all that feasible. The publishing industry is on the decline, so writing a book is more a matter of self-expression and prestige rather than an avenue for making a lot of money.  There are exceptions of course, but by and large, even well-known writers have to take up second jobs such as teaching to make their writing careers viable.

9. Which is your favourite genre? What is your take on ' Surrealist fiction'?

In fiction, I enjoy period dramas, family stories, romances etc. I don't think I have read any surrealist fiction.

10. Do you think reading 'Classics' is a must for a book reader? If yes, suggest some of the must read books?

I think classics are classics for a reason, so it is always good to dip into it.  But remember the reputation of an author or book waxes and wanes through the passage of time. Stunningly, Somerset Maugham was undermined by critics for a long time, which meant his name never appeared among the greats. However, his books have lived on. There is something to be said about the timeless wisdom and perspicuity in Maugham's writing that his plays are regularly staged for audiences around the world, and his novels continue to be adapted for the big screen. Not all classics are timeless, but a good number of them are. My own favourites are Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Mark Twain. Among the books that have made a deep impression on me are Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and Middlemarch.  I have read all of Maugham's books, but my personal favourite would be The Painted Veil, Up At The Villa, The Vagrant Mood, and his play, The Land of Promise. I am also a huge admirer of his short story collections.

11. Now Amish's Sita, the warrior has been released. Chetan Bhagat's book has been included in the syllabus of Delhi University. What is your take on Indian contemporary writers and Indian writing in English?

I always enjoy reading Indian writing in English. There is so much atmospherics that our writers are able to capture. But I don't know the wisdom of having Chetan Bhagat's book as part of the syllabus. He is an important phenomenon in terms of making book-reading accessible to the average or below average English reader, but I don't think I'd like to do a critical analysis of his plot or characters as part of a course. Some of the books that are prescribed in a course are the only ones many students will ever read in their entire lifetimes, so careful deliberation should be there in choice of books.

 12. Apart from reading and writing what are your other interests?

Cooking, nature, music, shopping for this and that...

13.Your 10 favourite books and 10 movies

Books
Funny Boy - Shyam Selvadurai
The Hungry Ghosts - Shyam Selvadurai
The Painted Veil - Somerset Maugham
The Vagrant Mood - Somerset Maugham
Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Middlemarch- George Eliot
Bookless in Baghdad - Shashi Tharoor
The Land of Promise - Somerset Maugham

Films
Lagaan
Piku
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander
Kandukondain Kandukondain (Tamil)
Varavelpu (Malayalam)
Masoom
The Second Best Marigold Hotel
The Best Marigold Hotel
Bangalore Days

14. How many books do you have in your library?
250 plus.

- by Shalet Jimmy

published here Mesmerized by Maugham