Kochi: Despite his busy schedule, KA Pradeep, a 56-year-old auto rickshaw driver from Cherai near Kerala’s Kochi, is keen about spending time for reading books. He plies his vehicle near Shiva Temple in Ernakulum and always keeps a book in his bag.

Recently, a surprising moment happened in Pradeep’s life. Popular author Paulo Coelho shared picture of his auto rickshaw named ‘Alchemist’- the name of the book written by Coelho. Interestingly, Pradeep named the auto rickshaw as it is one of his personal favourites and over ten years has passed after he had read the book.

The surprise came in social media with Coelho’s post saying ‘Thank you very much for the photo!’ along with the picture of Pradeep’s auto. Fans of Coelho in Kerala were amazed on seeing the auto rickshaw with Kerala registration and started to convey their warmth to the unknown person who owns the vehicle. 

The matter came to the attention of Pradeep when his son received the screen shot of the viral social media post in a WhatsApp group. The boy enquired with his friends and ensured whether the picture has been posted from Paulo Coelho’s official account. When it was confirmed, the family, including his wife Bindu, was overjoyed. The series of incident happened just like it happened for Santiago—the protagonist in Paulo Coelho’s story ‘The Alchemist’.

Since 20 years Pradeep is an auto rickshaw driver. He studied till tenth grade. Pradeep also has a collection of books at home too. He is fond of world classics and authors like Gabriel García Márquez and Leo Tolstoy. Meanwhile, he has pasted the picture of VKN and Paulo Coelho in his auto rickshaw.