Pilgrimage through Paulo Coelho's 'Hippie'

We all are lonely spirits lost in the forest called life.  The path that lies ahead is always crooked. We have to go through many diversions,twist and turns to reach our destination.  We have to lose many things in between. Our success always comes at a cost, which include heavy losses, loneliness, misunderstandings etc. These life diversions are unique and custom made for each one of us.

      Hippie by Paulo Coelho is set in the  backdrop of the hippie movement of 1970s.  This movement which originated in United States, later  spread to various parts of the  world including Europe. During this time, youth started to question the existing norms of the society and they started to pursue  free spirited life.  The protagonists Paulo and Karla were part of this new counterculture. This autobiographical novel by Paulo Coelho  also shows us the triumphs undergone by the younger self of author on his journey to become a writer.

     Paulo is a young Brazilian man in his 20s.  He had done a fair share of travel around the world.  He encounters with a pert, beautiful young Dutch lady called Karla in Amsterdam. Karla was in search of suitable male companion to accompany  her on the hippie trail to Kathmudu from Europe on a magical bus.  She felt some soul connection with the Brazilian young man and found him as her suitable companion.

    This novel explore various facets of human emotions and spirituality through their journey together to Nepal.  Both of  them gets a chance to experience the connection with supreme being and nature like all the Paulo Coelho novels.  They overcome various temptations that prevented them from embarking their destination.  The novel also discusses about the life of their fellow passengers in the magic bus like the Dutch couple Mirthe and Rayan, the driver of magic bus who is a medical surgeon by profession,the French father daughter duo.

  The journey helps them to shed the layer of insecurities, the fears that haunted them in their past.   Paulo and Karla realizes the power of selfless love and their visit to Istanbul acts as a climacteric which changed their course of life.  The novel itself is a pilgrimage through life, it brings a sense of introspection among the readers.