Author: Basit Khurshid
 
Description:
The idea and concept of El-Dorado started in the year 2010 when in a history book I glanced upon the voyages that were set upon by various nations in search of the ultimate prize. The idea stayed with me until the year 2016, when Kashmir was shut down and there was nothing to do owing to a telecom lockdown. I started writing the book in August 2016 and completed it by December 2016. The file was saved on my computer for 3 years untouched and unscathed, lost amongst the multiple records until the end of 2019, when I started off with the publishing process. The editing process was tedious but the end fruit was delightful. The book saw the light of the day in August 2021, almost 5 years after I started working on it.
About the book, El-Dorado is an expression of bounty, abundance and reward. It represents the worldly desires in addition to ones heartily desires. A man is flesh and bones, but a human is flesh and bones with spirits. El-Dorado as a book represents the life and its rigid value in terms of denominations. Fiction novels give humans an escapade from their daily woes and provide a space where they create their little fictitious self and try to live off this imaginary character in real life. The book tries to burst in enthusiasm towards the expression of fictional heroic living. The book whereas provides an emotional ride also has a touch of VAE VICTIS. El-Dorado gives a light of hope and kindles the optimism sometimes whereas it dispels the positivity and bursts into disapproval yet other times.   I would like to encapsulate the ‘WOES’ of life in a couple of Urdu lines. 
 
Kya kho diya kya paa liya, iss zindagi mai hum jhool gaye
Hum chaltay thai jin raston se, wo rastay humain bhool gaye.
 Kya shaan thi uss waqt ki, hum kehtay thai jo, wo kartay gaye
Hum itnay masroof huay zindagi mai, wo tariqay humain bhool gaye.
 Kya khoya kya paaya humnay, iska hisaab bhi na rakh gaye
Hum nuksaan kar gaye apna, wo faiday humain bhool gaye.
 Kya talaash thi humain, yai daryaft na kabi kar gaye
Hum doondtay rahay par, wo zariyay humain bhool gaye.