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Zahir...



I finished reading Zahir last week. A great book. This is the second book that I have read of Paulo Coelho, the first being Alchemist.
The book is written from a first person point of view.
Spiritual as you may expect.
This novel deals with obsession (that is somewhat the meaning of Zahir (an Arabic word)), love and happiness.
The author gives us a lot of food for thought. What is happiness?

I have been asking this myself for a long time. What defines a happy state?
Sure, I am not saying that I am a dumb loser who is bawling all the time.
Still, when I think about my happy times...

Winning something. I confess, it gives me a big rush. But then again, also a sense of insecurity. I have to keep up with this or else I would be booed. (Booed by who? That's another question altogether.)
Being with my loved ones. The very antagonistic...Not being with them...Losing them forever...Creeps up when I sink into being happy.
Sharing my thoughts with special people in the wee hours of the night...Makes me happy. But what if I screw up? There goes that happiness...

Now...take some trivial things...

Listening to my favourite music...
Makes me feel good. I tend to raise volume when some lovely parts come. Now what if I become deaf? Takes the pleasure away?

Having a cigarette. Gets a kick. Happiness...but it gets washed away after a little while. Getting cancer is a trivial matter. Did someone see me? Do I smell of tobacco? Blame it on the subsiding of the nicotine effect...But still...

Exhilaration of going at a high speed. Happiness clouded by the prospect of accident.

I can site numerous more instances...
But all things have a common point. At no particular point of time I am at a state of a total happiness.
Now what does those ill feelings point to?
What are the repurchase if something bad happens?

Now let me get back to the 'booed by who' question which cropped up earlier.
That's the root.
The fear of being booed. Booed in the sense, not being howled at. But finding yourself not good enough in front of people whom you wished would acknowledge you forever.
Not just one person or two, but a whole bunch of people at different circumstances, under different perspectives...
Some may be people whom I place as very important in my life...Some just for fact that they should know that I am better than them...

That is my obsession...My Zahir...

Feels Narcissistic? Very. I know that.
But how do I conquer it?
Doing things to please my obsession. In this process forgetting what really makes me happy?
Frankly, I have no idea what I really want...shadows are there...shadows of my real needs...
I have been able to write this because for a split moment I was free of my Zahir...I can feel it gripping me again...

I would succumb...just about...now...

This post started of as a review of The Zahir...I guess I got carried away...still I am posting it..

Comments

  1. Unknown10/15/2006 04:39:00 PM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Unknown10/15/2006 04:41:00 PM

    ... obsession ... narcissism, ...fear of gettin booed down ...
    uh oh, this sounds an awful lot like me :D

    happiness??
    somethings only make sense relativistically ;)

    and, i think i shud read zahir!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10/15/2006 06:27:00 PM

    i was kind of disappointed by d book...after d highs it reaches...it suddenly plummets down.but i guess tat just proves d point again........its always d journey tat is more imp than d destination....
    n d rest of d stuff....sounds familiar,very familiar!!! :D

    TC n enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. nryn10/15/2006 08:05:00 PM

    @akhil: I liked Zahir...but relatively speaking...you may not!

    @divya: Last part is a bit contrived...but hey there is poem at first, which does the job of a disclaimer...(Road to Ithaca)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Praveen10/15/2006 10:44:00 PM

    hmm...really nice post...
    i liked the way u tried to define a happy state...the thing u said about the insecurities when u r still in a happy state of mind...it may sound a little pessimistic, and am a person who never thinks this way..i.e.i never think of what may happen in the future, when am in a state of happiness...i just try to enjoy the moment...but i think u got a point thr...a point which is more closer to reality than my enjoy the moment slogan....nice post dude....btw, i gotta read this book...vayichukazinjengilll onnu thnnoode...h eheee

    ReplyDelete
  6. naveen10/19/2006 09:52:00 AM

    OK...wen I reach ter...I need tht book....OK?? Will b ter 2morow afternoon...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11/29/2006 01:18:00 PM

    nice blog eh....makes me wanna grab & read this book....

    ReplyDelete

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