Paulo Coelho is one of the most popular authors in the international writing community. His books have gone on to become all time bestsellers, including the very popular ‘The Alchemist’. Interestingly, an auto-rickshaw driver from Kerala was recently found to have the Brazilian author’s name on the back of his auto-rickshaw and Paulo Coelho shared the photograph. The post has now gone viral on the internet for all the right reasons. 

No witty one-liners, no funny pictures, the owner had Paulo Coelho and his book’s name written in Malayalam all over. Of course, it went viral and went on to prove just how popular Coelho is. 

The 1988 novel revolves around a young shepherd boy who embarks on a journey in search of the meaning of life, love and to pursue his desires. 

Local media reports suggest that the auto-rickshaw belongs to a man named KA Pradeep. “Kerala, India (thank you very much for the photo),” Paolo Coelho captioned the post on Twitter. 

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With over 21,000 likes, the post seems to have become the talk of Twitter and other social media platforms. In response, desi Twitter expressed their admiration for the author. 

“Alchemist was the first (real) book I’ve read too,” a user said. Another one commented, “We love your books sir. Alchemist is a book that every reader loves.”

One of them opened up about Paolo’s popularity in Kerala and tweeted, “Whether it’s fiction or non fiction, every world classics are translated into Malayalam, mother tongue of Keralites. And you are one of the most celebrated modern day writers here in Kerala,” while another showed how inspired they were by the author that they had one of the character’s of his novel as their username, “It’s morning here in Kerala, and this is the first thing I saw today… Couldn’t have been much better, because I started my journey with The Alchemist, glad that I’m still following it’s path. Thank you for sharing this pic. PS: my twitter username suggests it”