Born of Ink

There are heros born of ink, whose first steps are but letters scattered over manuscripts.
Their lives are but stories trapped in yellow white pages that inspire us, haunt us and guide us.
They are immortal even as they die and for those of us who read about them, they live forever but in the minds eye.
For a confirmed reader like myself, I find myself often awestruck at their expertise in handling and diffusing the many tense situations in life, their alarming patience and resilience for the unexpected and their ever faithful loyalty to their own thoughts and emotions even during moments of utter confusion. Some of them, I admire for their ability to love life while others at their capacity to express themselves perfectly in any situation and most of all, their resilience at making every word count.
So last night I lay in bed, completely in love with a book all over again.. listening to time as it crept past my window in the wee hours to turn night to day, I could not help but wonder what I could do if I was in the place of the main protagonist in "Love in the time of Cholera", Florentino Aziza when Fermina sent me the terse two page letter citing her fall from the "confusion of love into the abyss of disenchantment"
And there are times when I am at a crossroad unable to make a decision and my mind wanders and I think about say what Howard Roark would have done if he were in my place. Frankly, I've always known what he would do in every situation I've asked myself the question.. I've never followed suit and done what he would have .... but always known it so there were no illusions that I would harbor in my petty decision making.
So here is my list of some of my ink heros who have become larger than their legends in the years that I have read of them and what I love about them.
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Howard Roark; The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand: His ability to stick to his principles and not compromise on his thoughts, feelings and goals on the way to achieving his dream. His ability to live not just without love .. but despite it...which infact may be the hardest thing of all.
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Dr Laura Catellano: Never been so much more in love with a book character than this one. Determined, focused and always getting in and out of trouble..still manages to work hard at her job and relationships and is immensely human in her sheer brilliance and empathy towards life
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The Little Prince; Le petit prince Antoine De Saint Exupery: For being able to handle goodbyes far better than I ever can. For being able to believe that distance can be overcome in matters of the heart..even after being seperated not by miles but by galaxies ....and for seeing the positive side in things always and making me believe in the concept of laughing stars
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Dagny Taggart; Atlas Shrugged; Ayn Rand : The force behind Taggart Transcontinental railroad, for her grit, her focus and unabashed loyalty to what she has fought tooth and nail to create. Her ability to be a woman of great mind and spirit but also one that was able to love without too many questions.
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Mark Darcy; Pride and Prejudice; Jane Austen: For being the intensely honorable man of few words that he is. For revaulating how his behavior is infact perceived by ones that he loves and for making a genuine attempt at rectifying it.
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Santiago; The Alchemist; Paulo Coelho: For following his dream to the worlds end. For his amazing capacity to learn and inspire goodness. His simplicity and ability to listen to the voice of the soul of the world world and the voice of his heart and discern the truth from the superficial. And for living the journey more than the destination.
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Andrew Elliot; The Class; Erich Seagal : For being the narrator and witness to the ups and downs in so many lives, for embracing the side acts he plays in so many lives, for his humility and ability to feel great happiness at the good fortune of those around him and for trying to make a personal difference wherever he goes.
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Prabhakar; Shantaram; Gregory David Roberts: Ohh what a beautiful world with a friend like him in it ! For his utter simplicity towards all things alike...
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Dumbledore; The Harry Potter series; JK Rowling: For his pearls of wisdom stemming from seeing all the facets of people and life across so many eons. For never misusing his magical powers and immense strength and for always believing the good in people..
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Mariam; A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khalid Hosseini: Patience, Resilience, Gut and an immense capacity to deal with life the way the cards are deal
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Mary Lennox; The Secret Garden; Frances H Burnett: Mary had an uncanny healing power that manifested itself in her attitude towards life, her unwillingness to settle for anything less than her hearts desire, negotiate her way to it and her magnanimity. The classic part of her character was where she met Colin and refused to put up with his temper tantrums but at the same time agreed to let him see the garden...carrot and stick ..priceless !
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The list shall continue ...I wrote this post over two days and I must not forget to mention that last night I had a totally weird dream where Shantaram approached me for not picking him..followed by one in which I was on a TV show and was asked a question that there was a boat sinking and three people in it were Dunbledore, Howard Roark and Mary and I could only save two and who would I save and why ... Nevermind! ..The drama in my life shall always continue ... :)