“I read her eyes like paragraphs and her tears like chapters, for she didn’t have much to say with words, but rather, silence. And never let them tell you that silence, isn’t beautiful. For silence is what happens when words fall asleep and you must carry the belief that one day they will wake up inside of you.”
Author: Minakshi Thakur
Publisher: Harper Collins India
ISBN: 9789351160298
Genre: Fiction, Literary Fiction
Pages: 224
Source: Personal Copy
When the master of words Gulzar pens down a line for the cover, slaves like me pick it up without another thought. He calls it a novel with a rare ambiance of art and love. That put the book at a certain standard in my head. When I began reading, I was hoping it lived up to what I was expecting.
Lovers Like You And I is set in Delhi during the nineties. The book is a journey of young Nayan, born to an aloof doctor and an Assamese musician. It elaborates her experience of love as she transforms from a young girl to a woman. She meets men and women from varied backgrounds, generations and places, a film maker, a doctor, a student, a painter, who have at some point or the other in their lives, not only been in love but felt it and expressed it differently. It is through these encounters that she is exposed to the various faces of love. However, it is her own story with Salil, a drifter who alternates between poetry and backpacking that forms the core of the plot.
This is an unusual novel that evokes a lost era a time when people wrote letters and cherished the ones they received. With its effortless bilingualism and its seamless use of prose and verse, it challenges our notions of conventional storytelling to take us into a world where emotion rules and where time and leisure take on new meanings.
“Love is the magic word. Minakshi Thakur has revealed the hearts and souls of lovers like you and I. When love is real, the lovers are so unreal. Salil and Nayan never think of the thinkable and tangible. Its a novel with a rare ambience of art and love.” says Gulzar and I whole heartedly agree.
My favorite lines from the book are:
“The sweet delusion of my soul rises in ecstasy like a bubble in a champagne flute, only to kiss the brim and burst into a union with the fluid twilight within… I can see two gold bands swim towards each other, intertwine, then disengage and chase each other, play and frolic in that sea of intoxication. I can almost touch the momentary exuberance of the mad convergence of my world with yours. That joy, fleeting, yet so eternal in its brief permanence, is like the world’s last sea wave lapping at my feet and ebbing away.“
The book moves slowly into your bloodstream and makes you high on emotions. It is a must read if you are a romantic at heart.
Rating: 5/5
Its that time of the year when everyone around me is talking about Love. It must be in the air or something! Some are madly in love, others are looking for the mad kind of love. Longing for the long lost love, or waiting for the new one to blossom, its keeping them busy. Its described as a profoundly tender, passionate feeling for another person. The red colour, the heart shape, roses are all things that show love.
I have found myself utterly confused as far as this goes. I don’t like the colour red much, I would pick black over it any day! I find the shape of the heart funny and in no way romantic. Roses are great, but what I don’t get is, how can something that dies in a day, convey eternal love.
I might sound like a cynic, but I am all for it. I have fallen in it, hurt myself and fallen again.
For me love is simple. Love is the hug, when you need it the most. Love is the tears in your eyes when someone is in pain. Love is his thoughts peeping through your clouded mind. Love is when you laugh at his unfunny jokes and yet your heart smiles. Love is when he taking your name, makes you skip a beat. Love is when he stays awake talking to you, because you cannot sleep. Love is the 4am good night message after chatting the whole night. Love is writing your heart out in letters to her and not sending them. Love is a state of hyper awareness yet complete loss of control. Love is when your differences stop making a difference. Love is getting lost together. Love is a kiss on the forehead. Love is when you fight with each other for each other. Love is a wish that floats on an eye lash. Love is his name on my pillow every night.
Love is magical, its pure and its divine. I have seen it surpass the boundaries of time, distance and even death. Love is the smile on my mother’s face when she takes my Dad’s name even after three decades of being away. Love is how he watches over her from high up in the sky. They make me a believer, and so I admit, I believe in love. They are the stars of my favourite love story. If I get half of what they have, I will have seen love in all its glory.
Since its in the air, why not ride the tide! Go take a chance, Love is..definitely worth a fight!
Addiction is defined as dependence or commitment to a habit-forming substance to the extent that its cessation causes trauma. In simpler words when you cant do without something, you are addicted to it.
There are various things people get addicted to, but the most common yet the most dangerous drug out there is Love. It takes you high like nothing else can, makes a dreamer out of you. Sometimes a poet or a writer even. The classic give away of someone being under the influence is the silly smile on the face for no apparent reason. Its one of the side effect of the kick!
Like any other psycho active substance Love has its share of adverse effects. Its absence leaves you shattered and with scars that don’t heal. It makes you vulnerable and breaks you sometimes. The effect of it is such that you start loving what it did to you, even when it hurts, still high on the last fix and craving another one desperately. Getting drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal your brokenness.
So some like it hot, some like cold, some like it shy, others like it bold. I like mine in deep red, almost charred black with desire. The ridiculous, inconvenient, all consuming kinda love. Its like a fire that burns yet keeps me warm. I am addicted!
He loved her more than anything else in the world. .He built her a palace with beautiful gardens around it. They dined on delicacies every night then slept on satin.His passion knew no bounds. He hid her from the world and kept her just for himself. She hung herself one night. She died of excess love.
He loved her without desperation and needs and wants. With his naked soul, he loved her, and dreamt of her clothed in white dancing beneath the moonlight as the stars grew jealous of the way she moved.
Her eyes carried a certain kind of silence that begged to be understood and he felt as if he was a scientist, staring with eager, feverant eyes into galaxies that have not yet had the chance to be named.
It was rather beautiful: the way he put her insecurities to sleep. The way he dove into her eyes and starved all the fears and tasted all the dreams she kept coiled beneath her bones.
He loved her, not for the way she danced with his angels, But for the way the sound of her name could silence his demons.
He stood alone beneath the stars and shouted to the heavens at the top of his lungs and gazed at the stars that shined beautifully when the sky swallowed her name.
*A story based on the poems of Christopher Poindexter
“I love my gift” Tim said excitedly as he opened it.”Why did Santa not get you anything Leo, weren’t you a good boy this year?” he asked his brother. “I don’t know” Leo replied. What he did know was that, it took all the money had saved in a year to pay for those video games.
Sam had waited very long for a day like today. He sat working frantically at his desk, finishing things so he could leave. He wanted to do everything to make it an unforgettable evening for Layla. They had started dating a few months back. Sam had taken her on dreamy dates almost every weekend. They had gone on long drives into the wilderness a few times. Walked on beaches till they got tired, then lazed there till the sun set.
It was surprising at first then it got unnerving that even when they spent amazing days together, Layla never agreed to spend the night. She would always have an excuse which would lead her home soon after sun down. He had asked her the reason a few times but her answers never satisfied him completely.
“Some day you will know” was her favorite answer.
A hundred theories had crossed Sam’s mind on why she behaved the way she did. From moonlighting as a stripper to being an undercover agent, he had thought of everything. None of them made sense. Layla was was a pretty looking girl, who taught in a school for a living. Loved to go shopping and watch movies. Her favorite color was red, and she did not like ice cream. She had a normal life. There was nothing that said anything different about her, yet there was something about her that muddled him.
His misery was put to end suddenly when out of the blue Layla agreed to have dinner with him at his place. Crimson roses were placed on the table next to the bowl of drunken strawberries. The sheets were changed to black satin and the lights were dimmed. The Bordeaux was chilled. He was cooking her favorite spaghetti in marinara sauce while he waited for her.
She kissed him on his neck at the door. From the instant she walked through the door, he could not take his eyes off her. She was dressed to kill. He had never seen her like that. The black dress made her look sensual, the heels added to the effect. Her eyes looked different too. The plain Jane girl he knew was transformed into a tantalizing woman. He wasn’t complaining.
She placed the bag she was carrying on the table, leaned against it, put a strawberry from the bowl in her mouth and asked, “How long before dinner is ready? in an unusually commanding voice.
Her boldness intrigued him. The stark contrast between day and night baffled him.
“Almost ready” he managed to reply “Are you hungry?”
“Very” she said as she pulled the handcuffs out of her bag and walked towards him.
Cross posted from the http://dailybluepill.com/
Simple Plane Girl 