Skip to main content

The Reader's Loft

Amidst a hectic and monotonous schedule, sometimes our mind, thoughts and spirit deserve a treat. For me, it was reading “Saudade- tales of love, longing and loss” an anthology of ten short love stories curated and edited by Jyoti Doley and Jahnavi Gogoi that was first published in April 2023 by Guwahati Grand Poetry Festival. What amused and kept me gripped in this book was the fact that all the stories presented here were such unique, whether in relation to their storyline, style, narration, length or theme. I have been on the reading journey since childhood and I mostly found myself sitting down with a novel out of all other genres like short stories, prose, poetry, haikus etc. So, to be precise, this is my debut in reading an anthology and I cannot believe how much I have been missing out on. This book can provide the readers with an opportunity to delve deep into the imagination and fiction of all the ten authors, allowing them to see how they viewed the simple yet most complex feeling of love and its different forms. Each tale represented quite a range of writing styles, perspectives and ideas, which is exactly what I expected to find when diving into this book. 

We may all agree that be it messy, painful, challenging or growth inducing, love is still the sweetest thing we get to experience in life and it is found when and where we least expect. The story “The Kashmir Cat” by Rituparna Das revolves around this concept and the line “Be careful what you wish for” has really gave birth to a thought bubble in me. The second story “Lily” by Neeta Lagachu Taye dictates about a love that blooms from sacrifice and submission which is often considered as “weakness” but it is rather a strength of putting the needs of your loved ones above your own. 

Leena Hazarika in her tale “Fragments of My Home” has unlocked some closed doors of my mind and my heart really goes out to the characters she has depicted, who are the victims of a cruel and harsh world of exploitation disguised in the form of love and hope. This is followed by the fourth story “The Snail Shell” by Bhaswati Parasar which explores the unconditional love of a mother for her daughter and it also portrays how a mother can build a spine of steel when it comes to the happiness of her loved ones. The fifth story by Siddhartha Baruah “Songlines” interprets about lost love and the traces it leaves behind in our mind and soul. 

No one is perfect and in spite of the differences, like the characters from the fifth story “Elizabeth and Pramathesh” charmingly illustrated by Pallavi Gogoi, we are worthy of finding someone who is willing to build bridges over those disparities. We are worthy of finding someone who would set off on a peregrination with us through different dimensions and constellations and who would light up our lives like wildfires. While speaking of differences, I would like to mention about the next tale “A Rainbow in My Backyard” by Suman Sharma who has portrayed a love that is conceived by the stereotypes of our society, a society where true love takes a back seat against the set norms of heteronormative romantic relationships.

Without the closure of an unrequited love, there cannot be a peaceful new beginning. Partha Prawal described this concept stunningly in his story “The Gift” followed by the ninth tale “Home” by Jahnavi Gogoi. I loved the thought behind this story that sometimes though love can be lost from our lives and though the memories of that special one remains forever in our heart and mind; we can still move on and can find our home again, but in a person rather than a place. “Saudade”, the last story and the title of the book by Aakriti Sethi portrays a love that is beyond the societal norms of right and wrong, a love that is beyond any definition, a love that is tied by an unnamed bond and with a feeling of longing, melancholy and nostalgia.

In my opinion, love is such an emotion that is easy to experience but extremely difficult to describe. My kudos to all the authors of this anthology, who have such gorgeously presented the diverse versions of love in their tales that I could not keep the book down once I started reading it. I assure that the vibration of the emotion of “love” in all the stories will resonate to the hearts of the readers as a gush of fresh air and will definitely evoke some thoughts in their mind. So why the wait, isn’t it time we experience love all over again?


Comments

Post a Comment

If you have any query, please comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zubeen's Abyss whispers melody

Those who dare to think deeply are rarely accompanied; they walk with shadows, not crowds. Nietzsche knew this and his words—“If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you”—were less a caution than a confession. Century later, in a different corner of the world, that same abyss seemed to gaze into the life and art of Zubeen Garg. A singer adored by millions, yet forever unsettled, he spoke of nothingness and even quoted Nietzsche. It felt dissonant—how could an artist rooted in Assam’s cultural soil echo a German philosopher of despair? Perhaps it was not dissonance. Perhaps it was inevitability. To draw similarity between Nietzsche and Zubeen is not to impose Western philosophy upon Assamese music. It is, rather, to recognize that the human search for meaning transcends geography. The questions Nietzsche wrestled with—identity, despair, creation after collapse—were the same fires that forged Zubeen’s art. In his melodies, musings and silences, one hears the same urgenc...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Last Lecture- Book Review

If you only had a short time to live, what would you do?”, this thought-provoking thread led me to my third read in the biographical genre “The Last Lecture”. This is a 2008 New York times best-selling book co-authored by Randy Pausch, a Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Jeffrey Zaslow. It is a non-fiction book written on the last lecture delivered by Professor Randy Pausch when he was diagnosed and fighting with pancreatic cancer, being married to the woman of his dream and having three little children. Randy wanted to leave a legacy for his children, a guide to achieve their dreams. The book is divided into five units, written succinctly, simple language and in a phenomenal way. It will compel the reader to be in the author’s shoes and feel the emotion of the umpteen life lessons that the writer has conveyed, some of which will hit right on the face. One of it was the striking excerpt from the chapter, An injured lion still wants to roar, “...
Post a Comment
Read more

Queen of the Adriatic: Venice

In the Alchemist, Paulo Coelho rightly quoted “It’s the possibility of a dream come true that makes life interesting”. In my school days, when I read about this unique city of the world and saw pictures of the crisscrossing canals, it gave birth to a dream in me of visiting Venice, Italy at least once in my lifetime.  Our Europe itinerary included a day in the floating city, which was a storehouse of surprises for me as I always thought it to be a town with a plethora of tunnels and canals. But Venice is actually built on 118 small islands that are separated by 150 canals and connected by over 400 bridges. Being an Assamese, I felt an air of nostalgia at that time by reminiscing our own Majuli, the largest river island in the world situated at the heart of Assam on the turbulent waters of the Brahmaputra. Water-bus in Venice Our coach reached Piazzale Roma, which is the main bus station of Venice at noon from Innsbruck, Austria. From there, we took a water taxi via the Grand Canal ...
Post a Comment
Read more