I'm going to play Devil's Advocate and say this book was cliche. It ended exactly as I thought it would- Hakim finds that the wise man is within himself and the real power and wealth of life is to love others, share whatever abilities the Creator/Universe bestowed upon you with others, to follow your heart. And to avoid the obvious- material wealth and doing only for one's self without thinking of others. Hakim journey's all over India just to find that the Wise Man he sought was within himself the whole time. *roll the Disney music folks*
It was like reading one of those books on Zen Buddhism or something. And I was given quite a few of them in my teens my Aunt's India (ex)fiance.
In the end the same little orphaned street kid Hakim turned away from, he ends up helping in the end.
What did throw me off is the fortune teller with the huge emerald ring who disappears and reappears, the African truck driver, and the Scottish (Irish ?) magician. It just seemed totally random. I mean I suppose the emerald ring was the manifestation of wisdom.