People in Kerala appear to have a certain liking for South American writers, often citing Gabriel García Márquez and Paulo Coelho among their favourites. Brazilian novelist and lyricist Paulo Coelho also seems happy with all the love and attention. He recently found a photo of an auto rickshaw in Kerala carrying his name and the title of his famous novel The Alchemist on the back of the vehicle. The word ‘Alchemist’ is written in Malayalam. "Kerala, India (thank you very much for the photo)," Paulo tweeted.
The photo shows the green and yellow auto rickshaw on a road in Kerala with the name of the author and his book clearly written on the back of it. According to media reports, the owner of the auto is a 55-year-old man called Pradeep who lives in Cherai of Ernakulam district.
Times of India interviewed Pradeep who loves to read and he talks about his dream of going to Brazil one day to meet Paulo Coelho. The Brazilian author has duly shared this story too on his Facebook page.
More photos of Pradeep's auto rickshaw show pictures of Osho and others, put up inside the vehicle. To TOI he names along with Paulo Coelho other writers like Márquez, Victor Hugo, Kafka and Dostoevsky as his favourites. VKN is his favourite Malayalam writer.
Five years ago, Paulo Coelho took note of another Kerala story when a film named after him was released in Malayalam. Like one working in the film, Paulo Coelho simply shared news of the film's first look poster as being out. The film was named Kochavva Paul Ayyappa Coelho and had the lead actor Kunchacko Boban quote from The Alchemist, the lines about the universe paving the way for something one really desires to have. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” is the quote from the book.