Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist now available in Kannada

Writer Na D’Souza has said that ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho and its Kannada translation “Rasavadi” by Abdul Raheem Teekay should be given to those children who do not have dreams in life. The book tells one the importance of following one’s dreams and writing one’s destiny.

Speaking after releasing Kannada translation of Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ here on Saturday, he said “it is an inspiring book. Through the story of young shepherd Santiago and his quest for treasure, the story helps to learn something new. It points towards goals and dreams in life.”

“The book is a combination of detective story, novel, travelogue and can be read from historical and social perspective. In the desert of Sahara, the protagonist takes the shell and feels the waves from the sea and says the desert would have been a sea in the past. Every detail gives an unimaginable experience,” he said.

At a time when people move away from books, Na D’Souza said that reading of ‘The Alchemist’ will help us to know what we have missed by not cultivating the habit of reading books. It will help one to expand the knowledge of experience. To translate a book from one language to another, the author should have command over both the languages, and should know the richness of the language. “After reading the translation, I never felt it was a translated book. The work has feelings and experiences.”

Writer Abdul Raheem Teekay said that though he had so many dreams in his life, he never dreamt of becoming a writer. “There was no writer in our family. I studied in rural schools by understating the values of life. If God wants, we can achieve anything in life. All children have talents. But what the children lack is dreams to follow in life. The Alchemist will help children to dream in life.”

On what made him to translate The Alchemist, he said, “I had been to Goa for a property registration. While interacting with children of ragpickers, I asked a child what is his dream. The child in turn asked me what is it? The rag picker children should be our concern not problems. We should sow the seeds of goodness in them,” he said.

Open permission

Abdul Raheem Teekay said: “When I sent an email to Paulo Coelho seeking permission to translate The Alchemist, he gave an open permission through Twitter within three hours of sending mail. He has not taken royalty for the copyright for translating the work. I am planning to hand over the copies of the book to at least 1000 persons in the next six months,” he said.