PIONEER BOOKS | SEEMA | SEEMA
READING MUCH INTO
ROMANCE
Immerse yourself in love, loss and longing with this Valentine’s Day booklist PRATIKA YASHASWI
T
he soaring of the heart. The vertiginous feeling of one’s defenses dropping. The crackling frisson of connecting with a stranger for the first time. The courage it takes to walk away from families, run away from horrors like honorkilling and caste-related murders because two have decided their love is undeniable. Love is mysterious, love is powerful, love is healing. Everybody loves love—even those who turn their nose up at cheesy notions of Valentine’s Day and Bollywood movies. Especially
when it’s at the center of a richly told narrative. There are the exceedingly gratifying reads from the romantic comedy genre with their feisty heroines and heros with lopsided grins. And the sombre tales from South Asia’s dark side, where love perseveres through caste and class divides and even war. The romance genre is a diverse one and in this month’s booklist, we’ve done our best to include something for everyone. This Valentine’s, cosy up with any one of these beautiful tales from some of South Asia’s finest storytellers.
WRITTEN IN THE STARS by Aisha Saeed Dating — even friendship with a boy — is forbidden by Naila’s conservative immigrant parents. She may choose what to study, how to wear her hair, and what to be when she grows up — but they will choose her husband. When Naila breaks their rule by falling in love with Saif, her parents are livid, and promptly pack the family off to Pakistan to get in touch with their roots. On the vacation, plans change and an arranged marriage is planned: stat. Is Naila’s fate sealed? Or can Saif come through before it’s too late? 00 | SEEMA.COM | FEBRUARY 2022 84
THE ROAD FROM ELEPHANT PASS by Nihal De Silva During Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, Sinhalese soldier Captain Wasantha’s routine assignment to pick up a woman informant (a Tamil Tiger and activist, Kamala) near Jaffna turns into a nightmare when the Tigers attack the camp at Elephant Pass. Adversaries from the beginning, the two are forced to escape together and cross the abandoned Wilpattu National Park on foot. This novel won the 2003 Gratiaen Prize for creative writing in English “… for its convincing demonstration that resolution of conflict and reconciliation of differences are feasible through mutual experience and regard.”
