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March 6, 2010

Reflections...

The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus.

The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.

But this was not how the author of the book ended the story.
He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.

“Why do you weep?” the goddesses asked.

“I weep for Narcissus,” the lake replied.

“Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,” they said, “For though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.”

“But…was Narcissus beautiful?” the lake asked.

“Who better than you to know that?” the goddesses said in wonder. “After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!”

The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said:
“I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.”

--Excerpt from Alchemist by Paul Coelho--



I have always been enchanted with these lines. 

And with this beautiful thought I bid you all adieu as exams are just around the corner. But I'll be right back next month and will surely catch up with some reading in between. I will miss you all. I mean it.

Warm regards, 
Tulika

14 comments:

prajyot said...

hello ji...kaisi ho ?

vivek "Ulloo"Pandey said...

hey dear all the best for the exam..
and ur writeup mesmerized me.
ur writeup catches my attention..these lines are reality “ I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.”
u know one thing u can never imagine how beautiful u r thats why our ancestors invented mirror...it speaks that we have certain energies internally where we go when we see someone to watching us and then we gather our energies an come to the world again,,,thats why gils when see that some boys are watching them..unke gaal lal ho jate hain ..thats the internal energy..i have few line on this topic but as i am trying to finish my poem so m unable to post it at here..but next time surelly i will post my lines..
again all the best..

manjiT said...

all the best for ur exams tulika.

Anwesa said...

"The Alchemist" is Paulo Coelho's best.And I loved it too.

All the best for exams!!

TULSYAN said...

gr8 u r and gr8ness u hav achieved, that while i read, i got confused whether hav i read it in 'THE ALCHEMIST' or sm previous poems of urs, till u clarified the source!!!

good luck tuku, wishing u all the VERY BEST OF YOUR LUCK...:)

miss u...cya n ur work soon

Suresh Kumar said...

All the best for your exams... We will miss your posts too....

Saras said...

As usual, a brilliant piece of work just before your temporary leave of absence! Wish you all the best for your Exams and I am sure you will come out with flying colors.

Bikram said...

Wow.. a good piece of work.. YEah its pity that in todays day and age we dont appreciate things..

We may be ugly but someone tells us you are beautiful.. we dont listen to it .. only when they hear you are ugly from all over ..

I guess i have taken a completly wrong approach to the artilce :)

Abhishek Behera said...

bit late on the blog. but luckily didn't miss much.. good luck for your exams :)

Anonymous said...

heard this version of the narcissus myth in a class recently - The Alchemist would be another book to add to my reading list...

best of luck with the exams.

Thousif Raza said...

that was beautiful... :) and thx so much for sharing it with us....

and mast of luck for the xams yaar... have tons of sun and fun... in xams how you might be wondering!!!, you'll see, you'll see... cause xams ke time par hi wierd ideas aate hain :P


take care and keep writing............

Chandrika Shubham said...

Thanks for sharing such a nice story. :) Enjoyed reading it.
Best wishes for exams.:)

Saras said...

Hey! That is a wonderful indirank you got there! Keep blogging.

Tulika said...

@ All:

Thanks a lot for your wishes. :)
Still some papers left.