Second time’s a lucky charm!  The first time I tried reading it, I got bored and put it away. Having completed it now, it has become one of my most favourite books!

All the books we read, all the movies we watch and perhaps everything under the sun revolves around just one thing. Love. And yeah. The Zahir is yet another love story. But what is so appealing about this book is that , it brings out the vulnerabilities of …a man in love. How a person, a thing or even a thought can consume your whole self, throwing you beyond the brink of obsession….How the obsession can either break you to pieces or bring about a new person inside you…..An obsession that travels with you like a ghost wherever you go, whatever you do,  when you seem to be asleep…..even when you are in your  dreamland.

Honestly, we are all obsessed with one thing or the other throughout our lives. We may call it with different names….passion, infatuation, love, possessiveness,..etc.. Because we, as humans always need something to focus our attention on. Something to breathe with, along with oxygen. But the things that change us inside -out for the better, are the ones , we remember and revere. 

From another perspective, the book speaks  of the woman who wants to break-free, who has no ‘fear of the unknown’ (which most of us have),  who follows her heart while all hell breaks loose in her previous life that she despises,a strong woman who wants to grow back her clipped wings, a brave woman who takes a mighty step by risking everything that she has and defies destiny. One can’t help but admire such audacity.

Some of my favourite lines from the book:

“absolute freedom doesn’t exist; what does exist is the freedom to choose anything you like and then commit yourself to that decision”

“suffering occurs when we want other people to love us the way we imagine we want to be loved, and not in the way that love should manifest itself, free and untrammelled, guiding us with its force and driving us on”

“We must do jobs we detest because we are part of an organised society, and if anyone did what they wanted to do, the world would come to a standstill”

“The rules are: be sensible, think of the future, think of your children. You can’t change, you must be like two railway tracks that remain the same distance all the way from their point of departure to their destination. The rules don’t allow for love to change, or to grow at the start and diminish halfway through- it’s too dangerous.”