Little Things

There is always a particular book for everyone, to which we go back again and again. For me it has been The Little Prince. Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince has the power to light up your mood and make you sob at the same time. For years it has been making a permanent space in more or less everyone’s book shelf.

This is a brilliant story told by a pilot about a boy living in asteroid, cleaning volcanoes and watching sunsets until he meets a rose and decides to leave her to explore other asteroids. Visiting many planets, he comes across different types of grown-ups. He meets our narrator in a desert on Earth. Each journey little prince endures offers us a lesson, which can help us to make our life meaningful and worth living.

• It opens with a brilliant line, “people should remember, they were all children” instead of critical approach towards everything the author encourages us to use our imagination ; and subsequently with a slightest change in our perspective, life can be stress free and interesting.

• While exploring new planets he came across a business man hoarding money to buy stars. When he was asked about his activity, he gave the most predictable reply “nothing, I just own them.” Similarly we chase materials, to possess and expect to derive happiness. But instead of this materialistic obsession, if we can focus on our loved ones, life will seem to be worthy.

• Imagination is the core of this book which gives it an extraordinary touch. The author not only inspires the kids but also teaches the grown ups to be better humans. Unlike adults the children could look beyond the surface and interpret life in colours. The morals conveyed here is larger than life. Every character he comes across reveals some deeper philosophy. From the king to the businessman, more or less everyone thinks only about themselves, living life for a personal profit, only the lamplighter reveals something beyond his own benefit .

• When the prince comes across the beautiful garden, the roses remind him of his own rose he had left. He understands that his rose is something irreplaceable, and it is the time and effort(which he provided) that made his rose even more special. “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” From the fox to the rose each teaches us philosophy of life. This magical journey ends with the most important lesson; sometime we must learn the most important lesson; sometime we must “let go of those who love to fly”. Although the narrator loved the little prince but he lets him go which is the most beautiful form of love, free and infinite just like the sky.