A new shade of love

Embarking on the journey of her literary career and choosing Pakhi her nom de plume, Aditi Agarwal Poddar has warmed the cockles of her readers' hearts with quite an engaging and gripping novel "Love Me Again". William Shakespeare pertinently remarks in his sonnet number 116 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" that "Love is not love Which alters when its alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove". The fact cannot be refuted at all that love has been the leitmotif in several literary pieces since time immemorial and umpteen authors, writing in different languages, have romanced with this subtle and sublime emotion in their own unique manner. Following with the footsteps of these literary masters, Pakhi has painted love in quite a novel hue on the canvas of her tantalising work of fiction. Undoubtedly, the novelist is endowed with mesmerisingly fecund imagination which enables her to take her reader on this rollercoaster ride of multiple emotions.

The chief protagonist of the story, Aadhira, the girl is a similar soul who wants to expand her wings and fly high in the firmament with full velocity. She believes in living her dreams while floating in the mystical world of love and amorous feelings. She is strong as a lightening, yet profoundly emotional. Her mind is a huge reservoir of hundreds of secrets, yet she has nothing to hide. Iconoclastic, renegade and maverick as she is, social fears are thus not potent enough to tame her wild spirits. The bond of marriage which is humorously called a wedlock fails to shackle her unfettered and indomitable self. Deviating from the social noms and demolishing the old ossified stereotypes, Aadhira is desperately keen on living a happy-go-lucky life without even an iota of personal regrets and modicum of remorse.

Here comes a much needed twist in the tail when Akshat, a mysterious man lands in her life and this un-stereotypical wife is enamoured of him. The man too turns out to be her partner in the crime of extra marital love which is indeed viewed as a taboo through our age-old social prism. Here, it will not be advisable to reveal what lies in store for both of them. Will this unaccepted and unorthodox version of love culminate into a perpetual union or will our chief protagonist go back to her lawfully wedded husband to seek her amorous solace is the question which must be left unaddressed to the prospective readers to explore.

As far as the art of characterisation is concerned, it will be apt to state that Pakhi has an ability and a great flair to create finest of the characters. The readers easily gel well with all of her characters as they are men and women walking shoulder to shoulder and identical to us whom we frequently bump into during the course of daily lives. The consummate plot construction also readily catches our attention. Most of the episodes have been stitched well into a well woven plot. Loose ends are seldom here to find in this otherwise meticulously structured narrative.

The doyen of English Literature John Milton rightly says that a grand theme must be couched in a grand language. Here, the author deserves extraordinary applause as she has chosen the finest of the lexical items to convey her deeply emotive, pent-up ideas. What gratifies us all the more is the fact that the writer has painstakingly kept the verbosity and jargon at bay. Her language is very much within the cognitive ambit of the readers. From the very beginning to end we do not find any complexity and bafflement in terms of the usage of language. Therefore, the entire tale appears to be a smooth and supple read which offers a buffet of emotions to the lovers of romance and leaves a unique taste in their mouths. A must read for all.