I am an alchemist…..you don’t believe it!!!...ok….I ‘can’ be an alchemist …for that matter I would say…you too could be... an alchemist is buried deep in me …I mean, anybody could be an alchemist and everybody is born to be one….believe me…
What is alchemy? The power to transform any metal into gold ? or it is sheer chemistry….to get the right mixture…rather a magic mixture…to turn things your way…
When I say everybody is born to be an alchemist…I mean it. we abandon practicing alchemy midway…and cease the chance to be one….thats all.
In the novel there is a sentence which is my favorite…‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’
It tells you that everything is possible as long as you really want it to happen.
When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming an airplane pilot or a railway engine driver or a truck driver or …..most of the kids dream the same way….. they all try to identify their destinies so early……re-identify them…as they grow….with reasons……. at the core of that innocence lies the lust to wander …like Santiago… but as we grow more….we gradually start losing control of our lives……bury our destinies on way…..fill our journey with unfullfilment and define it fate….and as said that’s the world’s greatest lie…Fear of failure becomes the greatest obstacle to our happiness.
Santiago pursues ‘alchemy’ all along…..and finally finds his treasure…the treasure which lay where his heart belonged. he had a dream and the courage to follow it.
What we search is right there all along…inside us.
We all have dreams and wait for ‘somebody else’ to tell that they may come true.
Don’t wait…. Live out your destiny…you have an alchemist inside you.
Life is in the journey, not the destination, so is the treasure.
As Coelho says, ‘Dying trying to realize your destiny is a lot better than dying like other millions who never know what their destinies are.’
At least, I never let the Santiago in me die….a dream even if it is lived for a few moments is better than not dreaming at all….but to survive a dream one must journey…towards it.
Ok…Let me unravel the alchemist within me….
I started as a banker almost 27 years back…in a middle class tamil brahmin family a boy after graduating had to start earning, and getting a ‘respectable’ job at that stage was a happy moment for the family….but soon I discovered that’s only a station, not my destination…..remained a banker for the next 7-8 years when walking towards my destiny I became a journalist. Abandoning a secured job naturally created the ‘required’ hue and cry in the family. By then I was also love married to a lovely lady …so the concern was much higher…but my better half in fact worked as my best half. I sticked to my decision and joined the times of India group. During my 18 years of journey into hindi journalism, I kept my dreams alive, regularly underlining my destiny….in these years worked for most of the big banners of media….though journalism unraveled many intricacies of life…it didn’t deter me either to follow my destiny… then the television breakout came in and I joined a reputed business channel as a producer…but all along I eyed my destination. Suddenly one fine morning I felt time running out to reach my destiny and I once again quit my job to follow it …. I was destined to take pictures of life, in any form….which can make me happy and which I can share with others….now for the last one year I am journeying towards my dream…just wandering and taking pictures…an immensely happy soul….may be a moment comes when my financial concerns and family responsibilities force me to push my dream aside for a while…but then, they can never die…because that’s my treasure…I will be nothing without it…
While walking to my grave, I will be all in smiles…. Because I had found my treasure….
When I say everybody is born to be an alchemist…I mean it.
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