Eleven Minutes ~ Paulo Coelho

                Eleven Minutes

                            

       Before saying anything about this book, I would like to recall a few lines from the Book “অচিন পাখি” by Shaktipada Rajguru.

“মানুষ পৃথিবীতে যখন আসে তখন তার মনে অনেক আশা ,স্বপ্ন । সে কামনা-বাসনা নিয়ে বাঁচে । সে স্বপ্নকে সত্যে পরিণত করতে চায় । সে নিজের ঘর গড়তে চায় । সুখ দুঃখের একটা ঘর । ভালোবাসা পেতে চায় । ভালবেসে ধন্য হতে চায়, সুখী হতে চায়  চিরদিনের জন্য । কিন্তু জীবনের পিছনে আসে মানুষের শেষ পরিনতি, মৃত্যু। মৃত্যু যেন মানুষের সব আশা স্বপ্নকে মিথ্যে করে দিতে চায়। মানুষ বাঁচতে চায় পৃথিবীতে । ভালোবেসে পরিতৃপ্ত হতে চায় । মানুষের বাঁচার এই চিরন্তন প্রচেষ্টাই জীবনের লক্ষণ । জীবন মৃত্যুর মাঝে রয়েছে মানুষের ভালোবাসা, চিরন্তন আশান্বিত প্রেম । যা মৃত্যুকে অতিক্রম করতে পারে।।"

     While reading this book these lines were whirling around in my mind. These lines are greatly correlated with this novel.

     But Paulo Coelho has taken the above lines to the deepest of human psychology, that is “How can you feel the love?”

    The story is about a pretty young Brazilian girl, Maria. Like every other teenager, she also wants to love and be blessed with love, she wants to grow rich, rich in love. But the definition of love was unknown to her. She reaches Geneva, Switzerland to pursue her dream and find her eternal love. But her situation does not prove to be what she had hoped and she pursues a career in prostitution to make money. During her time in Switzerland, Maria experiences pain, pleasure, and even sadomasochism but not love. She does not allow her soul to enter into the process. The dehumanizing profession caused her to “shut out” the body and mind to any connection with love and her life now revolved around something that took eleven minutes.

      Later on, she meets a Swiss painter, Ralf Hart, Because of whom Maria’s body and soul become reintegrated because of the love and passion she shared with him. He rekindles her sensation toward a stable life.

    In this way, Paulo Coelho generally has postulated a definition of love, simply “LOVE” is something that connects your soul to your body and every other feeling in the world that is bland.