Seeking your half souls...

The first Paulo Coelho book that I chose as my gift, was Brida. (But it was Eleven minutes that I read first) 
In Brida, I came across this beautiful idea of Alchemists, the Anima mundi.

Anima mundi, is the soul of the world and we form a part of this Anima mundi, which keeps dividing and growing, and to prevent it from weakening, the divided soul, seeks itself. And the process of finding this other half soul is, love. 

But while Paulo Coelho puts it as a soul always dividing in to a male and a female, Haruki Murakami in one of his best sellers, Kafka on the shore, puts it as male-male, female-female and male-female. I think LGBT cannot be explained in a more better way.

“Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe.” 

― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

This makes much more sense to me. You never know what you seek, and whether it is your half soul you are after. Every break-up probably puts in this idea, that this is not your half soul, after all (*wink wink*).

And so, neither would we want to be accepted by others who don't come out of their preconceived notions nor would we want to go with the ideas of the majority. Only when we leave such prejudices, we probably would understand that love is not that which can be defined after all, it is not what the books describe, it is not what most people believe in. 


Love manifests to each one in his own simple way... to topple up his life completely... If you can put love in to words and give it a rigid outline, which is impossible, it simply means you never loved, it still continues to be the indefinable infinity. So, it is not about marriage or going physical. Some of us love our dads, and all of us love our moms, but who doesn't love one's children? 

And... apart from being human, what about the love for animals, birds, flowers, and material things like pen, paper and books, like I love stationary items so much... (*No... I may not be that weird!*)

Smiling at utter strangers who look a little dull... definitely brightens my day. So, love all, and keep smiling and sharing love, and yes, don't forget to love yourself more than others.

At the book fair

Come January and there are so many reasons to feel happy about. 

The start of a new year, always ushers a longing for great things to start, even if they don’t happen, lots to expect, a never ending list of all that you wish to read, and naturally, the book fair. 

Books, wherever or whatever way they are arranged… in a row on shelves or as little heaps, make me feel like I am on weeds. And at the book fair, seeing hundreds of shops was like moving around a carnival.

There are so many to choose from, and I am at a loss on what to take along. The mind does so many calculations to fit the list in the budget. The classics, or the spirituals, the children books or the renowned contemporary ones, fiction or non-fiction, lovely prose or rhythmic poetry…

My online library has so many of these too. Do I really have to own all these? It is about reading them not owning them that matters, I tell myself. But some books are to be chewed slowly. The spiritual ones especially, they need to be on my shelf. 

And after much of a debate, when I do choose a few books and check their cost, I understand they are too precious to be owned. But nevertheless, I cradle them in my arms, and keep moving this way and that until I find something that wouldn't break the shoe string, and then keep the precious pearl back in its place. It is too painful, though a little heartening that I could hold them to my heart, after all.

I did choose a few books, and made my way home, telling myself I can always get a second hand or used book for an affordable price. 

I wish I have a big library, with rows and rows of all the books I loved reading, those that were a pleasure to my nerves, and those that made tears trickle down my eyes, those that made me mad with anger… 

Better or worse, whatever I am, thanks to these wonderful beings that make me travel all over the world; meet all the people around, the good, bad and the in-between.