Turning Pages !!!

Hippie by Paulo Coelho As per the dictionary meaning, ’Hippie’ is a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs. And that's how Paulo led his life, as a 'Hippie' before he met Karla and started-off his journey on 'Magic Bus'. In this book, Paulo tells his own life stories, his own experience, in a third-person style of writing. Plot of the Story: Paulo, a Brazilian boy, who wanted to become a writer started his journey to explore himself and his life. He reached Dam Square in Amsterdam after he had done several Hippie trails in the past. Paulo was headed towards Piccadilly Circus in London from Amsterdam where he met a girl named Karla who was looking for a companion in her journey to Nepal via Magic Bus. Karla got successful in convincing Paulo to come along with her on the journey to Nepal. Other than Karla and Paulo, Magi...

The Spy by Paulo Coelho It’s a story based on the life of a woman, whom history knew as ‘Mata Hari’ and who was falsely accused as ‘The Spy’. The only crime she did was that she dared to follow her dreams fearlessly in the world where men ruled. And the result was, she was convicted of espionage even though the only thing she traded was the gossip. This story or a historical instance is another example depicting that no matter in whichever century we are and whichever zone of the earth we live, whenever a woman dares to be different and wants to follow her own path and marks her own destiny, society will let her down. When I read the synopsis, it’s the subject which grabbed my attention and made me read the whole story. The book started off well, however, I found the story disconnected at few places which made me lost the track of the story at times while reading. I would recommend this book so as to know about the history of this epic woman ‘Mata Hari’. Plot ...

Adultery By Paulo Coelho   ‘Adultery’ is the reflection of thoughts what every adult, in this generation of millennials, is going through. And Paulo has explained this very well through the fictional character Linda, who in spite of having a perfect life (loving, successful, rich husband and two lovely kids, and a successful career as a journalist) which is envied by any woman her age,   was unhappy. I would say she was not content, her mind was not at peace, she used to have extremities of thoughts and today I think this is the problem of every second or third person in the millennial generation. She thought her life has become monotonous a boredom and maybe that could be the reason of her unhappiness so to get excitement in her life, she started seeking adventures new challenges; and she ended up having adultery with her long last high school boyfriend. She herself was not sure if it was love or if she was looking for an adventure; she wanted to take a risk and...

The Supreme Gift By Paulo Coelho It's not Paulo Coelho's original writing but it's an adaptation by him of Henry Drummond's text. Its not his usual style of writing. It's different but in a good way. It helps you understand that Love which is the supreme gift and nothing else. It has very beautifully explained the key ingredients of love but also mentioned that Love is more than the sum of those ingredients. What made me ponder is how evil temper is hundred times worse and has no rival. The instance given to explain the sin of disposition and sin of body is clear and crisp. And at last he explained that on the path to attain salvation final test is Love. It's not our beliefs and our accomplishments will count but what will count is how we loved our fellow men and women.  Quotes/Lines which stuck with me after I finished the book are : 'Faith ,hope and love abide; but the greatest of these is love.' 'More sophisticated...

Before We Visit the Goddess By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni It depicts the journey of three women of three different generations from three different locations: grandmother: a village girl moved to city, mother - a city girl moved to another country , daughter : girl born n brought up in another country. From surface level, it seemed they all went through different situations different challenges but as you go in depth you would find they all faced same problems in a different way and then came a phase in life of each of them when they lost their identity, their zest for life and they gave up their everything. But then a moment came in the life of each of them, when their lives turned around and they claimed their identities back whether it was in the form of Durga Sweets or Bela's Kitchen. Chitra has emphasized on the importance of education through out the journey of a woman's life and what does satisfaction mean for a woman:  "Satisfaction of achiev...