Aleph: Where Time & Space Converge

By Ananya Mukherjee
Singapore

If Aleph is indeed the autobiographical account of  Coelho's journey of personal discovery, The Zahir is perhaps a reflection of his inner search, only narrated more beautifully. Aleph, in all fairness is probably Paulo Coelho's most personal account ever to be printed in black and white, yet, if you have read The Alchemist or The Zahir before, you may find traces of a deja-vu in Aleph.


The novel starts with Coelho's revelation apropos the stagnation of his spiritual growth. He embarks on a journey that starts from Africa and then to Europe and Asia via the Trans-Siberian railway. Most of the book describes the author's experiences during the journey with his publisher and Hilal, a girl whom he meets in the travel. Coelho soon finds out that she's the one whom he had loved five hundred years ago in a different incarnation. What follows next is a very intimate account of the relationship in their past lives. 


Here the novel takes a Bollywood slant and for those with a more realistic eye, the timelessness of Hilal's presence in Coelho's life is somewhat unconvincing. If reincarnation and related stories are not particularly your choice, I would suggest you skip this novel.


To me, reading Coelho is a trial of self discovery more than the relevance of its contents in terms of realism. The beauty of the sentences leave an indelible mark on me, the magic of his words and thoughts often overwhelming and provoking the mind to see beyond what the eyes can behold. 


And who knows such an Aleph may just exist somewhere for you too....waiting only to be discovered!