The Winner Stands Alone

I grabbed Paulo Coelho's latest book, "The Winner Stands Alone", during one of my rare weekend outings about a month ago (weekend, for me, is time to stay home doing homey things). Romantic at heart, I was struggling reading its first chapter - no thanks to Igor, the Russian Billionaire (I imagined him looking like Putin). He is on the pursuit of 'destroying a universe' (Read: Killing people) to make his ex-wife realised that leaving him for another man is the biggest mistake! At one point of my life, I, too, had a strong urge to cause such grievous actions on others so that they could see how hurt I was (thankfully, I was sane enough to realise things always happen for good reasons. If not now, later).

But as I progressed with this book, like many other admirers of Paulo Coelho's works, we realise Igor epitomises our life's greedy pursuit for power just to make us feel normal, at par with the rest of the degrading worldly people. This book is life-changing for me. It has too many secrets about life and one of them is Lucifer Effect. This term coined by Professor Philip Zimbardo explains so many inexplicable events inflicting us. His extensive works on Lucifer Effect make Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine so relevant in today's world. Zimbardo and Klein's works picture the worst side of us humans.

I hope you enjoy reading this one meaningful story taken from this book.

The spirit of the girl with the dark eyebrows reminds him of the story told by an old Afghan in a break during a battle.

After many centuries of turmoil and bad government, the population of a city high up on one of the desert mountains of Herat province was in despair. They could not simply abolish the monarchy and yet neither could they stand many more generations of arrogants, egotistical kings. They summoned Loya Jirga, as the council of wise men is known locally.

The Loya Jirga decided that they should elect a king every four years, and that this king should have absolute power . He could increase taxes, demand total obedience, choose a different woman to take to his bed each night, and eat and drinks his fill. He could wear the finest clothes, ride the finest horses. In short, any order he gave, however absurd, would be obeyed, and no one would question whether it was logical or just.

However, at the end of that period of four years, he would be obliged to give up the throne and leave the city, taking with him only his family and the clothes on his back. Everyone knew that this would mean certain death within three or four days because there was nothing to eat or drink in that vast desert, which was freezing in winter and like a furnace in summer.

The wise men of the Loya Jirga assumed that no one would risk standing for the position of king, and that they would then be able to return to the old system of democratic elections. Their decision was made public, and the post of the king fell vacant. Initially, several people applied. An old man with cancer took up the challenge and died during the period of his rule with a smile on his face. A madman succeeded him, but left four months later (he had misunderstood the terms) and vanished into the desert. Then rumours started going around that the throne had a curse on it, and no one dared apply for the position. They city was left without a governor, confusion reigned, and the inhabitants realised that they must forget the monarchist tradition altogether and prepare to change their ways. The Loya Jirga felt pleased that its members had taken such a wise decision. They hadn't forced the people to make a choice; they had simply got rid of those who wanted power at any price. Then a young man, married and with three children came forward.

"I accept the post", he said.

The wise men tried to explain the risks. They reminded him that he had a family and explained that their decision had merely been a way of discouraging adventurers and despots. However, the young man stood firm, and since it was impossible to go back on their decision, the Loya Jirga had no option but to wait another four years before they could put in place the planned return to elections.

The young man and his family proved to be excellent governors. They ruled fairly, redistributed wealth, lowered the price of food, organised popular festivals to celebrate the change of season, and encouraged craft work and music. every night, though, a great caravan of horses would leave the city, drawing heavy carts covered with jute cloth so that no one could see what was inside them. These carts never came back.

At first, the wise men of the Loya Jirga thought that the king must be removing treasure from the city, but consoled themselves with the fact that the young man rarely ventured beyond the city walls; if he had and had tried to climb the nearest mountain, he would realised that the horses would die before they got very far. This was, after all, one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. They determined that, as soon as his reign was over, they would go to the place where the horses had died of exhaustion and the riders of thirst, and they would recover all that treasure.

They stopped worrying and waited patiently.

At the end of the four years, the young man left the throne and the city. The population was in uproar, after all, it had been a long time since they had enjoyed such a wise and just governor!

However, the Loya Jirga's decision had to be respected. The young man went to his wife and children and asked them to leave with him.

"I will", said his wife, "but at least let our children stay. They will then survive to tell your story".

"Trust me", he said.

The tribal laws were very strict, and the wife had no alternative but to obey her husband. They mounted their horses and rode to the city gate, where they said goodbye to the friends they had made while governing the city. The Loya Jirga were pleased. They mights have made many allies, but fate is fate. No one else would risk accepting the post of governor, and the democratic tradition would be restored at last. As soon as they could, they would recover the treasure abandoned in the desert, less than three days from there.

The family rode into the valley of death in silence. The wife didn't dare say a word, the children didn't understand what was going on, and the young man was immersed in thought. They climbed one hill, and travelled for a whole day across a vast plain, and slept on the top of the next hill.

The woman woke at dawn, wanting to make the most of the final few days of her life to look her last on the mountains she had loved so much. She went up to the very top of the hill and gazed down on what should have been an empty plain, and she was startled by what she saw.

During those four years, the caravans leaving the city each night had not been carrying off jewels or gold coins. They had been carrying bricks, seeds, wood, roof-tiles, spices, animals and traditional tools that could be used to drill into the earth and find water.

Before her lay a far more modern, far more beautiful city than the old one, and all in working order.

"This is your kingdom", said the young man, who had just woken up and joined her. "Ever since I heard the decree, I knew it would be pointless to try and change in four years everything that centuries of corruption and bad governance had destroyed. I was certain of one thing, though, that it was possible to start again".

Look of Love

A master asked his disciples, "Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?"

The disciples thought for a while, and one of them said, "Because we lose our calm, we shout for that".

"But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you? Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?"

The disciples gave him some other answers but none satisfied the master.

Finally he explained, "When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance".

Then the master asked, "What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small…"

And he finally said, "When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other".

~ From Paulo Coelho's "Why to Shout?"

Maktub - Part 3

“I’m going away”, he said. “And I want you to know that I’m coming back. I love you because…”

“Don’t say anything”, Fatima interrupted. “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving”.

But the boy continued, “I had a dream, and I met with a king. I sold crystal and crossed the desert. And, because the tribes declared war, I went to the well, seeking the Alchemist. So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you”.

“I’ll be back”, the boy said.

“Before this, I always looked to the desert with longing”, said Fatima. “Now it will be with hope”.

“You’re crying?”

“I’m a woman of the desert”, she said, averting her face. “But above all, I’m a woman”.

Fatima went back to her tent, and, when daylight came, she went out to do the chores she had done for years. But everything had changed. The boy was no longer at the oasis, and the oasis would never again have the same meaning it had had only yesterday. It would no longer be a place with 50,000 palm trees and 3,000 wells, where the pilgrims arrived, relieved at the end of their long journeys. From that day on, the oasis would be an empty place for her.

From that day on, it was the desert that would be important. She would look to it every day, and would try to guess which stars the boy was following in search of his treasure. She would have to send her kisses on the wind, hoping that the wind would touch the boy’s face, and would tell him that she was alive. That she was waiting for him, a woman awaiting a courageous man in search of his treasure.

From that day on, the desert would represent only one thing to her: the hope for his return.

~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, Page 121 – 123

Maktub - Part 2

As the Englishman left, Fatima arrived and filled her vessel with water.


"I came to tell you just one thing", the boy said. "I want you to be my wife. I love you".


The girl dropped the container, and the water spilled.


"I'm going to wait here for you every day. I have crossed the desert in search of a treasure that is somewhere near the Pyramids, and for me, the war seemed a curse, But not it's a blessing, because it brought me to you".


"The war is going to end someday", the girl said.


The boy looked around at the date palms. He reminded himself that he had been a shepherd, and that he could be a shepherd again. Fatima was more important than his treasure.


"The tribesmen are always in search of treasure", the girl said, as if she had guessed what he was thinking. "And the women of the desert are proud of their tribesmen".


She refilled her vessel and left.



*


The People went back to where they were living, and the boy went to meet with Fatima that afternoon. He told her about the morning's meeting. "The day after we met", Fatima said, "you told me that you loved me. The you taught me something of the universal language and the Soul of the World. Because of that, I have become a part of you".


The boy listened to the sound of her voice, and thought it to be more beautiful than the sound of the wind in the date palms.


"I have been waiting for you here at this oasis for a long time. I have forgotten about my past, about my traditions, and the way in which men of the desert expect women to behave. Ever since I was a child, I have dreamed that the desert would bring me a wonderful present. Now, my present has arrived, and it's you".


"You have told me about your dreams, about the old king and your treasure. And you've told me about omens. So now, I fear nothing, because it was those omens that brought you to me. And I am a part of your dream, a part of your Personal Legend, as you call it".


"That's why I want you to continue toward your goal. If you have to wait until the war is over, then wait. But if you have to go before then, go on in pursuit of your dream. The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. That's the way it will be with our love for each other".


"Maktub", she said. "If I am really a part of your dream, you'll come back one day".

~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, Page 96 - 97

Maktub - Part 1

Finally, a young woman approached who was not dressed in black. She had a vessel on her shoulder, and her head was covered by a veil, but her face was uncovered. The boy approached her to ask about the alchemist.

At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the Soul of the World surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were posed between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke - the Language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the deserts. Something exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met as had theirs here at the well. She smiled, and that was certainly an omen - the omen he had been waiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life. The omen he had sought to find with his sheep and in his books, in the crystals and in the silence of the desert.

It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognised the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it's easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it's in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning.

"Maktub", thought the boy.

~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, Page 92 - 93

God's Messengers

"A master and his disciple were walking together in the desert. The master was teaching his charge that he could always trust in God, since He was aware of everything.

Night fell and they decided to pitch camp. The master raised the tent, and the disciple was given the assignment of tethering the horses to a rock.

But, as he stood by the rock, he thought to himself: "The master is testing me. He said God is aware of everthing, and then asked me to tie up the horse. He wants to see whether or not I believe in God".

Instead of tethering the horse, he said a long prayer, and left the fate of the horses in God's hands.

Next day, when they awoke, the horses were gone. Disappointed, the disciple complained to the master, saying that he no longer believed in him, since God had not taken care of everything, and had forgotten to watch over the horses.

"You are wrong", the master answered. "God wanted to take care of the horses. But in order to do so, he needed to make use of your hands to tether them to the stone'.

~ Paulo Coelho's "The Valkyries", Page 57 - 58

If we look at never-ending conflicts in Middle East and Africa, we may wonder why God is so cruel, for not having mercy on the people. I always believe God is Merciful and Compassionate yet we, the weaklings, tend to get our Second Mind in control of our fate - that is focusing on what's in there for us in everything we do, overarching our baseless assumptions that what others said are signs from God, sticking to culture and tradition without realising the rationale of folloing them.

Without us realising, this country is also in the 'same boat' as our brothers and sisters in Middle East and Africa. Where did we go wrong, I wonder, because we think we are good people, who love our country but from the actions we are taking, we are doing the opposite.

Tomorrow is the day when HS' voters will be using their hands to put this country into the right course. If we believe in God, may we be God's messengers and let us have the chances to save this country.