VERONIKA lives in every one of us

So after a much long await here is my blog about a book i read recently

"VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE" by PAULO COEHLO

Madness: what does it mean? When we say a person is mad? A person who lives in his own world is mad??? OR Madness is incapability to communicate your ideas?? OR???(may be you find answers to them after reading this book or blog)

It’s a story of a 24 year beautiful young girl Veronika living in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She works as a librarian by day, and by night carries on like many single women dating men, occasionally sleeping with them, and returning to a single room she rents at a convent. She had everything a girl of her age wanted. The story kicks off when Veronika decides to die because she has done everything in life that makes it worth living. She has been living a monotonous life and always thinking of what others will think about her. She never battled for , never argued over, never fought for anything in life and allowed life to impose every situation on her and she accepted the situation as it is. In adolescence she thought it was too early to choose and in youth she was convinced it was too late to change. She gave up all her desires, left a tempting job offer in a good company and took the job in a library where she earned less but was more secured. Her life was like this because she herself wanted it to be.

On November 11, 1997 she decides to kill herself by taking overdose of sleeping pills. But her failed attempt and unexplainable reasons lands her up in a mental hospital, Vilette. There she was in deep sate of coma for almost three weeks and due to overdose of the pills her heart was irreversibly damaged and she has nearly a week to live.

Vilette is an asylum a place of protection, where one is shielded from danger(rather I should say society). Those who refuse to accept society's rules have two choices: succumb to the majority's perception that they are mad, or struggle against that majority and try to find their own way in the world. For eg. Einstein said we don’t have space or time, just a combination of both or the Beatles who created an different sort of music and dressed like people from other time, Columbus and the list goes on…

But in the asylum she had to fight for every bit of space. She can do everything she wanted to do without thinking of the consequences. She did all those things she never did in her life. She slapped a person, she did things without being true to others expectations. But she was afraid that she might not end up convincing that life is worth living and will cause pointless pain as she was about to die in a week. She had nothing to lose because in her case there was no future or no past involved, the only thing she had was THE PRESENT. In asylum her presence started affecting the life of others & she ends up changing life of three people: Zedka , Maria and Eduard. The first relationship she developed with Zedka who was suffering from chronic depression. Then she met another lady, Maria who was the leader of a group FATERNITY , suffering from panic attacks. And then she meets a schinzophrenia, Eduard with whom she fell in love with.

With in that one week she felt all the emotions which she had never felt with such intensity: love, hatred, fear, curiosity , THE DESIRE TO LIVE. These intense days made her experience and question the whole idea of madness. The young lady had touched a lot of people and made them rethink about their lives. she was ready to live again but it was impossible. Her condition detoriated as the days passed. She realized her grand dream to play piano with heart and soul. when she knew she was left with less than 24 hrs to live she asked Dr. Igor to give her sedative so that she stay awake for the whole day and do all things she wanted to but never did. That day Zedka left the asylum as she was cured, Maria who was cured for a long time, but never wanted to leave Vilette also left on an adventure and Veronika and Eduard ran from that place that night. Veronika knew she was about to die when she realized that every moment of life is very special. She thanked Eduard for giving meaning to her life. Also Dr. Igor Succeeded in his experiment which he started on Veronika: Can you "shock" someone into wanting to live by convincing her that death is imminent? Can you bring an ”awareness of life” with the help of “awareness of death”. Dr. Igor's experiment jump-starts Veronika's new appreciation of the world around her. But the truth was that Veronika never suffered from any heart problem…….

The main focus of the story is on Veronika and her relationships with the other inmates of Villette. . Its some what a depressing book with element of uncertainity,joy, trauma, sadness and worth each penny.All these people Veronika, Zedka, Maria, Eduard ran from their responsibilities, they wanted to find an easiest way: “A SEPARATE REALTIY”. All people goes through difficulties but these people never did and landed themselves in VILETTE. The price they would have paid by dealing with those minor problems would have been far less than they paid for not recognizing them to be theirs. Are we also running from our responsibilities??? Many Veronikas live in everyone of us.. Stop chasing the goals set by others.People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different.

Every moment is precious and special.

So live it laaarrrrggggggeeeeeeee…

So now anyone can define what madness is?????

Love

Gaurav