there are many a number of characters who inspired me, but i would like to mention a soccer friend whom i met only when i went to play soccer and only for two months.

i stayed in United Arab Emirates for a few years. during my vocations i used to visit my uncle who stayed in far place(Al ruwais) from the capital city of Abudhabi. my vocations are for two months so usually i spent that with him. on one of my vocations, by every evening i went to play soccer(my favourite sport). i met a boy of my age who also came for playing. his name is Hamud and he is from Egypt. we never played in the same team since we are paired while dividing the team.

the best thing i like about him is he used to appreciate me for my play, he used to say ” You play awesome, i like your swift dribbling and precise passess, please come everyday, without you, there is no fun in play” …
i really motivated by this and i used to go to play even cancelling my schedule for parties. “You played quite well, doesnt matter you lost”, his comment if my team loose the game.

i really miss my friend, i never know will i meet him or not but i wish to meet him and i hope i will..

lots of love
sajeer :)

un beijo

we all have an unforgettable character in our lives. but i like to think of them as comrade’s , as equals. we need people to look up to and this helps us become a better person , the better a person we get , the more people look up to us and become better themselves. maybe thats why many people look up to you paulo , because you are a truly good and humble person.

This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.
Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.

I have told you that to choose a path you must be free from fear and ambition. The desire to learn is not ambition. It is our lot as men to want to know.
The path without a heart will turn against men and destroy them. It does not take much to die, and to seek death is to seek nothing.

For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have a heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel-looking, looking, breathlessly.

thank YOU!

Dear Charu,

your support is priceless.

Thank you

Love

4 years back i started reading ur books.. But i am late to find out this blog..(Better late than Never… right??)
It is really wonderfull to read the thoughts of the readers of my favourite writer..
Thanks for keeping this bond, it lightens my way….

lots of love to u all…

Be Safe,
Suha

I bought your book “Like the Flowing River” It is full of gems of inspiration for everyone on this earth. The book gave your web address. That is how I am able to read your story of your fantastic Uncle Jose. My spirits got uplifted after reading it. Your uncle is a reamrkable man with such a loving heart. Your story has touched my heart. We are all basically the same individualls wherever we may be living or talking different languages. Your message in life seem helps one to understand the great mystery of life and we all have to bow our heads to it. If people realise that none of us are permanent in this world, there will be less violence and fighting but more harmonyand peace. LIfe is indeed beautiful and every minute of it is worth living only if we care for our felow men. Now I plan to buy all of your books and read them. May God grant you good health so that your books and stories continue to inspire all people all over the world. I salute you and offer ,my humble respects.

Sincerely yours,
Patre Rajashekhar

My unforgettable character is, in contradition to Paulo’s experience, not a person of my youth, but a youth who I first met at the start of the war in Iraq.
He was Hussain, an 18 year old boy, refugee from Bagdad and I was his 45 year old teacher communications in The Netherlands.
Hussain had a problem with communication, he never said more than necessary. This behaviour was not accepted by his fellow students and they started complaining. Ignorant as I was, I agreed with them and decided to force him into speaking.
How ashamed I felt when he looked at me and said: “Ever since I went to school, my mother taught me never to say more than necessary. Each word too many can threaten you and the ones you love.” And then he told the class the story of an 11-year old boy who had to leave his beloved Bagdad and finally came to cold, rainy Holland in order to start a new life. None of us dared to say a word, because of respect for Hussain’s tears. But also because of shame, because we had judged before knowing, even before thinking.
Hussain’s tears were not over after this event. Shortly after the fall of the dictator who had the same name, he went to visit Bagdad. His experiences there were so terrible that he came back in Holland completely empty. He could not speak anymore, didn’t know what to do anymore. Had no dreams anymore. He left. Simply walked out of my life. I cried for this a long time. I had never lost a student in such a terrible way.
And then I read The Alchemist, and after that all the other books from Paulo available in The Netherlands. The Zahir made me search for new things in life and thanks to Houssain I was able to get to know various Islamatic people who I now see as my very best friends.
And after a long time I got a short e-mail from another part of the world: “Thank you for helping me. One day I will explain what happened. I love you so much.” Signed: Houssain.
Thank you Houssain, you opened my eyes for a world I had never heard of, a gift that finally enriched my life more than I could ever have dreamt of.

Ellen from The Netherlands

One of the characters that has profoundly made an impact on me is my own father. I didn’t always see this in him, in fact there was often time when I didn’t like him and had a lot of anger towards him. Until I see him in me, in the way I response towards life itself.

You see, while growing up, he taught me to reach for the highest possible things I could reach for and fed my intellect with the best education he could afford, without discriminating whether I was a girl or a boy. Yet he also taught me to reach high without lifting the soles of my feet. He fed me with the awareness of real life by bringing me to streets of Cairo, where houses were made of mud and kids had their faces covered with flies.

On my journey now, I choked to see those memories flooded through me, and have realised how much he had shaped me to where I am today.

I’m doing well today, yet I know that I need a sense of humility from time to time. The humility that doing well on my own is just not good enough when many people are still suffering and I have not used my power to change that. Every step I make, my father is in my spirit. Being my conscience that “we are not here for ourselves alone”.

I still cannot talk to my father openly to this day. Because it is just not in our culture to talk this way, and I don’t think he would understand because he didn’t do it out of something he can comprehend himself. He did it out of his genuine spirit. But through this blog, you are all my witnesses as to what I feel towards my father.

God bless you all, for listening to my story.

Rima

I love the thought that your writing provokes in me, as always. This is a sidetrack to your story and perhaps totally shallow question …but why was your uncle Jose never married, and was there a story of loneliness (or not) in there? I’m just curious.

Have a great day.

It was such a touching story from your life. Indeed it was beautifully written. And as it is any thing that paulo touches is Gold (Yaa the Midas touch).

But frankly, i just did not understand what was the exact message that was to be conveyed across?!

Was it that you should do as u feel like doing irrespective of the opinions of others.
OR
Was it something else that i missed??!

I am a huge fan of yours, but some times i do question your ideas too. ;)

I know i maybe wrong (99.9%) but still i like to question.

I read Zahir, it was a nice book, but dont you think that the protagonist of the novel was way deep into being unfaithful to his wife. Did he deserve her back in his life??

May be yes but then even he does then should she accept him??

I dunno i am a kid may be wrong but would definitely like to hear from you.

Regards,
Prakhar

P.S.: I am not that small. I am 24 and have read most of your works in English (More than 5 times each).

Have a nice day

Yes, ‘At the bank of River Piedra I sat….and wept…..’ I read it, long time ago in Dutch….and just finished reading ‘The Zahir’….and I agree….these books of Paulo (evenso the other ones….) gave me a change of feeling and living my life….enjoying it to the fullest……

AT THE END OF EVERY DAY….?

AT THE END OF EVERY DAY’ I PONDER,
ABOUT THAT I HAVE ACHIEVED,
AND THAT I HAVE’NT.
IN ALL MY SURMISE’ I KNOW
I MIGHT NOT SEE TOMORROWS SUNRISE?
ON WHAT’S IT
THAT I’D LIKE TO DO MOST,
IF TOMORROW WERE TO TURN ME
INTO LIFE’S GHOST?
IT’S JUST A SHORT TIME REALLY…
24 HRS, ONE DAY, 60 MINUTES….’
TO SECURE MY FUTURE,
GIVE MY WIFE A TREAT,
RID MY DAD OFF THE BURDEN OF HIS DEBT,
HUG MY CHILDREN
TUCK THEM TO BED.
AN’ TIME IT’S LAUGHIN’
MOCKIN AT ME YET!
MY FOOLISH INTERPRETATION OF A
ROCKING TOMORROW’
BY AN EGO OF A BODY,
WHICH IS PROBABLY ALREADY DEAD!

u are right paulo, the message in alchemist was’ that everthing that u ever wanted was always already there.. but yet u have to take that journey, to know that, to discover the true treasure hidden beneath the sheath of ur core called the soul you have to go the path never travelled by, you have to toil the soil until maybe eternity dies.. and then jus like th revelation of the sun while it was all dark a while ago u have the whole world glowin…. the spark of illumination of the spirit you carry in your spirituality is very vivid while i run my eyes thru the passages of ur journey in your book ‘like a flowing river’…
i wish the seeker in you a journey across the thousand petals of lotus where you get to experience the light of a million sun… and yet dont have to blink a lid
happy adventures :)

I am very glad that you pursued your calling to be a writer. The world is a much better place for it.

Love & Light,
Thea

Thankyou for yet another short story that once again, opens the heart, fills the soul, and gives hope for the future. Where does all that inspiration evolve from? Thankyou.

I have my own ‘Unforgetable Character’. My own father. But unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. When I was around eleven years old, I remember my father being kind person, he was happy, thoughtful and sincere. But he also drank heavily, was sometimes angry, and occasionally, would completely lose it. He also abused and mostly neglected, the love of my hardworking mother, of me, and my two brothers too. And all the other great things that he took for granted. I think he was outwardly rich, but inwardly poor. He was somebody who found it hard expressing emotion. And that was when he was around at all.

But for all his absence, his moods, and his drunken entrances at three in the morning. For all the times that he smashed up the house, ruined christmas, or threatened to burn the house down, we still loved him. Logically, sensibly, we shouldn’t have, after all, he had put us through such hell. He had robbed part of our childhood. Our freedom. But, he was still our father. The only ‘man’ in the house. The only hero we had. And after all, love doesn’t always know when to say NO!

Many years later, after I had married, and also had kids, and been successful, and done all the stupid things that I remembered my father doing, I realised the truth. Earning a living, paying bills, raising a family, and feeding them too, does take it out of you. It can, if uncontrolled, drive you to the edge, make you drink, make you disappear for days on end. It can and often does…make you eventually, even become something you once detested. Your father.

But this is not a sad or pathetic ending. It is not an opportunity to critisize my upbringing, or blame my father for everything I didn’t get to do. Quite the contrary. What my father’s example showed me, and my brothers, was how NOT to behave. By the example he set, by the actions he showed, we learnt how NOT to behave. By default, we learnt how to treat someone you love, your kids, friends, the relationships that mean something, with the utmost respect. We learnt that you should not always run away when things get hard. Or the going gets tough. Yet, he showed us so much. We have so much to thank him for, but not least, the gift he gave us about forgiveness. How to forgive, and how to learn. He taught us the vital lesson that even negatives in life give us invaluable life lessons. They teach us what NOT to do. What NOT to become.

And look how well we have now done. He gave us three brothers the strength to stand on our own two feet. How to stand up for ourselves. How to barter. How to do so many things. With a large publishing deal around the corner, I’ve realised my dream. I’ve fought the good fight. And my brothers, they too, have become millionaires doing something they love. So thanks Dad. Thanks for the lessons, and the pain, and the suffering. And thanks too for the many enthralling conversations I still have with him every sunday morning. He has truly been an ‘unforgetable character’ painted across my life. For all the wrong reasons, and paradoxically, for all the right reasons too.

GOD BLESS PAULO. And thankyou too, for the many insights, wisdom and great stories that have lite up big chunks of my life.

Best regards, William Murtha

this is a most amazing story about your uncle jose and how he could have shaped your thinking as a story teller / or as the maggi/ writer.
but then, everything that you write is so full of grit that changes perceptions of everyday life as actual miracles.
i just so love you.