My Views on Eleven Minutes

'Eleven Minutes' is a novel by Paulo Coelho that I read recently. I ve done 'The Alchemist' and 'The Witch Of Portobello' by Coelho sometime back. I was then quite convinced that Coelho's works are worth spending time with. I ve started falling in love with his works, of late. Its really exciting and thought-provoking as he takes us to the various dimensions of the human mind and thoughts. I did 'Eleven Minutes' this week, and I was so excited about the real-life emotions he has portrayed. I have a mixed feeling about this work of his, because he has dealt with a subject that was harsh, difficult and shocking, because, it covers the subject that is the most tabooed till today. I guess you know, what the three letter word is, by now.

The novel begins by the line 'Once upon a time, there lived...', which gives us the impression that the author has tried writing a fairy tale. But in course of time, you will realize that it is actually not. I had a mixed feeling after finishing the novel, and I am short of words to describe what I felt while I read the novel. At first, I started feeling a little uncomfortable reading the novel. But as I brushed through more pages, I could really understand what the author has tried to illustrate through his pretty character and the protoganist, 'Maria'. I put aside all my apprehensions and perspectives about the novel and did the novel with a plain mind. This novel I realized, has a great value associated with it. Some or most of us, might not acknowledge the complete value of it, but it is really an interesting piece of work. To better understand what the novel has tried to talk about, you need to have a clear head; otherwise, it will just been another novel that people think is 'tabooed'. 

But its not just the tabooed subject that the author has concentrated on, but on the virtues of innermost human feelings, specifically, those which everyone of us keeps for ourselves. Coelho, through various customers, talks through Maria's customers, what kind of suffering different kind of people can have, and he finally talks about suffering,ie., pain as a kind of pleasure if endured willfully. It is the most difficult thing to digest probably but it gives immense pleasure for people who have learnt to accept it. 

I was taken away by the way he has portrayed the heart of a woman. For a man, I thought it is quite difficult to understand the feelings and emotions of a woman, the way she thought about the unanswered questions of her life. But Coelho has written a woman as though he has penetrated the depths of every woman's heart. Every woman might have similar thoughts in her innermost soul, though she might defend herself from finding answers for it. This book will serve a good reading for both men and women who are willing to accept the complexities of human soul. 

As a plain speak about this novel, Maria is in search of true love, which is when she decides on travelling to Switzerland, where she embraces the most tabooed profession ever, to make a living for a year. She is focussed on her plans to save money, and buy a farm, build a house for her mother. She encounters a variety of personalities in her clientele and thereby understands what the world is like. This descriptions gives an insight into the varieties of personalities who exist in the world. The rest of the novel talks if she has attained the purpose of her search. 

The diary that Maria maintained throughout is an excellent part of her analysis of human beings around her. I guess by now, my long time confusion has come to an end. The confusion was if I have to maintain a personal diary or not. I am convinced that maintaining a diary, not only puts to paper your thoughts, but also makes you analyse everything we put into the diary, thereby getting the most about life out of your experience. Maria, as I could understand did a lot of her analysis as she penned them down. Maria had the courage to take any opportunity in life as it comes. How many of us are that brave ( even for simple tasks) ?

The people who read this book can think of any one of the following :

1. Is it just about Maria, a woman who faced all adversities of life?

Is it about just her happiness (individual) ?

2. Is it about interpreting and living your life which is bounded by our partly understood complexity of life?

If we start analysing ourselves very seriously, we will have several questions in our mind when we finish the novel:

Who am I?

What is my destiny?

Am I going in the path that is destined for me?

As I read through various views of this novel, I discovered that some people did have negative opinion about this novel. My opinion is that those who have negative opinion about this novel, just took the blind form of Maria and did not look at what Coelho has written through her. Coelho has used a character and some incidents of her life to tell us some real facts about life which most of us fail to analyse. Coelho's thoughts and analyses are too much for us to grasp, atleast for me, at this age.

It does not take just 'eleven minutes' to read this book, but the analyses done revolving around the 'eleven minutes' of each one's life is worth a gift to be received from this great Brazilian author/philosophist, Paulo Coelho.

Concluding, I would say, 'Eleven Minutes' is a great inspiration for me which enabled me to think of life from a different angle and look into the depths of life. It has given a new life to my life. Thanks to Coelho for spreading his light into his readers.

Memories !!!

My First Blog !!! :)

Its been 3 long months after four years of college years at Goa. I ve started wondering how I am actuallly allowing myself to stay away from my sweet BITS campus. Its always been fun knowing and learning things. Not just studies, or a degree, something more. Its a lot about life and love and living !!

Today, I am reminded of the memories of campus life. How interesting and how easy things were !! I realized very less the day I left campus, how badly I would miss it. I can still remember the day I boarded the flight from Goa to Chennai.

It was the 13th of May, 2008. I had to leave earlier than what my batchmates did, because I had to attend the Six Sigma Green Belt Certification programme conducted by BenchMark Six Sigma at Chennai. I was high with fever; I knew it was pretty difficult for me to travel and make myself comfortable with the strict training schedule for the next four days.

My health was soo bad that I could not even sit in the class idle the whole day. I left late from college, still not bidding farewell to the most important people of my life. I left the campus in silence, strictly controlling all my emotions. I was late for my flight, and there was just 15 minutes left for the departure. I rushed into the Airport, and fortunately the Airport Authorities were good enough to let me in. I finally was in the flight. I had no time to think about my last minute on campus or the people I should be meeting before I left the campus. And now I was in the flight, my college and my friends far behind. I wished there was some time left for my emotions to take over me ! It was too late then !

The flight had taken off! Suddenly the realization struck me and my eyes were filled with tears. I can still remember and feel those moments. I just could not accept the fact that I am leaving my sweet campus forever in my life. My mind also thought of doing an M.E in the same sweet campus of mine though I knew it was impossible. I could not take my mind off the thing. In another hour, I am supposed to be meeting my parents, with all energy, which I knew was impossible for me. I could see my Alma-mater BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus as a small piece of land from above, as I was travelling. I could not control my tears then. I was listening to the song "June July Maadham" from the latest movie "Kalloori" (Tamizh), then. This song had captured me during the last few days of mine on campus. The words in it are too true to be ignored. It was great indeed to have the lines heard all the time. I am sure every other friend of mine realized the same. 

I was thinking of the multitude of emotions I need to go through in a short while, when I land at Chennai. I had to face my parents; my health was pretty bad; I had to control my emotions about leaving the college atleast till I reached the Guest House. I then thought of the unforgettable moments I had on campus. The late night chats, the shopping centre (SC) visits, the hostel grounds, the birthday parties, the bumps, the dance nights, the hostel nights (DJs), wing celebs, late entries to lecture halls, late night exam preps, Vasco visits, beach majja with friends, trips to beaches, meeting with Mitra mam and with Prof. Jagmohan Singh, frustration about Maths II, the zugs in Physics I and II, the D grade counts ( :P, tho there were not many in my grade cards), the festival time fun parties, the horror movie time at Deepu's room (my close friend), mischiefs with Appu, trip to Wayanad, etc, etc, were all wonderful incidents in my life. There were lots of nights when I thought about all these and had tears fill my eyes while emotions overcame me. They were I should call 'the golden moments at BITS-Goa'.

The campus had taught me a lot of things, apart from 'Electronics and Instrumentation'. I always have a feeling then on, that going farther from our home town is better for an individual's growth. An individual becomes more mature when he/she is let to stay away from parents for their college education. It teaches what life is and how to face troubles and make ourself better. Every single incident teaches us about something important in our life. I learnt a lot of what sucessful living is at Goa.

Fun, love, loss, laughter, pain, learning, interests, etc. - Lots of words like this started gaining the appropriate meaning in my life. I am really happy to have had my education at BITS. I am delighted about my life at BITS.

Memories are always the essential part of our life. And I can quote a few interesting lines about memories, that I feel are really true:

"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."

How often do you forget the things that are the closest to you? There will be almost nil chances that the incidents with close ones be ever forgotten. I would say all the wonderful moments I had spent at college can never be forgotten as long as I live.

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth. ( I would also include 'Music' to 'Smell' )"

A smell or a little of music is enough to conjure up your past memories and rethink the whole incident. I can remember the feeling I had whenever I listen to certain songs. The same feeling I can refeel when I listen to the songs again. Smell also has a similar effect.

"Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember. "

There could have been incidents which are really hard to accept and understand and bare. But they would be the sweetest moments of our life or they would have been the moments which taught us the most about life.

"To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward. "

Everytime we look back at our life and remind ourself of the past, we restore the vision and thereby take all the good things, prevent the bad ones from recurrence, and hence make our life more fruitful.

Memories can teach us a lot of things for our future,'Memory" is !! I am bewildered !! It has got infinite people's emotions, thoughts and what not ! No one can live without memories, when it helps us cherish the most wonderful moments of our life. An unwritten diary stored in the form of smell, music, momentary glance, etc. It allows us to live life the better way.