Zorba The Greek : NIkos Kazantzakis

I apologize dearly for my absence from this blog for a long time. I had been busy in unwinding the other aspects of life. I, in the future, will try to make it sure to not to repeat it again.

Though, I hadn't had any interest towards the fiction since I always liked to watch cinema instead but still there are several books that left upon my soul an impression which was hard to omit. Nikos Kazantzakis's Zorba the Greek is one of such books. This book came out of Kazantzakis in 1946 & since then has been unmatched. To be mentioned, Osho includes this book in his favorite list & based his way of life partly on the lead character Zorba.

Never had any other imaginary character like Zorba lived life in such totality. His passion for life goes to such an extreme where majority of us wouldn't even dare set foot at. The story revolves round a man who is imprinted by the Buddha & is on a feat to write a book on it. He also owns a mine in Crete, a small town on the southern Greek sea shores. Zorba, the chief assistant of his mining expedition, leaves a mark on his mind.

The Zorban way of life, albeit of it's dangers, attracted me. It had something in common with what we call in India "The Sufis". He dances when he gets angry or when he is happy or when he is filled with sorrow. In fact, the only outflow of emotions for him is dancing & that too uncontrolled. He is an atheist but still very much in love with the existence. He loves women & can go to any limit to capture them. He has a musical instrument "Santuri" which does not obeys him & has it's own temperament i.e. it allows to play itself whenever it's on the mood. He laughs at his master every now & then for searching the meaning of life in books. He never cares about tomorrow or yesterday. I won't get surprised if he didn't even cared about the next moment. That's what Zorba is.

I vowed to myself long ago to not to follow anyone but I never vowed to not to love anyone. I fell in love with Zorba. It may seem surprising that I never finished this book. I felt no need of it instead. This book & this character may be imaginary but aren't mean to be read & put aside. They, instead, are to be lived. Not finishing this book had some unknown reasons & they still guard it. With shaking hands I scribbled this thing on it's page. This book, in matter, occupies a space in my library but, in reality, lives somewhere within me.

Bravo ! Nikos for Zorba