Literary Symposium '13

On the 18th of September, the students of Grade 11 organized a literary Symposium and participated in it. The topic of the symposium was 'Universal Values in Literary Works'. Congratulations to all the students for speaking eloquently and presenting their individual views well! The articles and speeches from the symposium will be uploaded over the next few days.

The very first article is one by Fatima Shabbir expressing her thoughts on the fictional novel 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho.

Read, Lead, and Succeed

In the wise words of John F Kennedy “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”  “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho analyses leadership from a different angle. The conventional meaning of leadership is ‘the action of leading a group of people or an organization’. Coelho challenges this popular belief by depicting throughout the book that every ordinary individual is a leader when he/she follows his or her heart. In other words, we are leading ourselves everyday in the journey of life when we listen to our heart and do what we truly believe intrinsically is the right thing to do. 

The young boy of the novel was not an influential person, rather he was just a simple shepherd yet he became the hero in his life when he learned the language of the universe and reciprocated using the language of his heart. He says, “I am learning the language of the world, and everything in the world is beginning to make sense to me...even the flight of the hawks”. Santiago learns to lead himself by seeking inspiration from the wise king, gaining survival strength from the merchant, reading between the lines with the Englishman, experiencing excellence traveling with the alchemist and above all acknowledging the omens of destiny. We all aspire to be leaders, let me relate it to the thrill of anticipation we feel when the prefectural body is announced in school. However, we need not be chosen as leaders to lead, for the Almighty has already made us masters of our own lives and the test of leadership is to lead ourselves on the right path for personal and community development.   In the wise words of the alchemist, “Your heart is alive, listen to it”. Indeed leadership has meant a lot to me but “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho has introduced a new horizon, compelling me to think about leadership from a different perspective.