(I could not really find a suitable name to this blog post - a book review of The Poison of Love by KR Meera, translated by Ministhy.S., too many thoughts this novella has left behind)
This is a dark, thought provoking tale, gets really caustic at times, but as some one has said - to find the brightest wisdom , one must pass through the darkest zones. So, do read this book, definitely profound and different.
One of the most important primal feelings - love, has often been associated with everything beautiful, poetic and magical. However, can passionate love be all consuming, highly corrosive that it dissolves one's identity? Can it be streaked with vengeance that waiting for an act of retribution alone sustains life? Yes, possible proves KR Meera as she handles this all deftly in her book - The Poison Of Love (translated), originally written in Malayalam and titled Meera Sadhu.
The Poison of Love is a story of Tulsi and Madhav, Tulsi's downfall from being loved every second to begging for a second of love and attention, a whirlwind change that pushes her to becoming a Meera sadhu in Vrindavan and surrender to the Lord.
Madhav's love for Tulsi; or more precisely, Tulsi's love for this only man in her life stifles her, makes her numb, the realization that she has deserted too many things all along to earn just emptiness in the name of love strikes her too very late.
The author leaves a deep chasm when she delves into how even after this realization, Tulsi does not reveal her pitiable condition to the world just to guard her self esteem. Her deep pitted eyes well up with tears but every time a cloak of false pride dries them up till a final straw is drawn. In her years at Vrindavan, does she wait for Madhav, his love, what will be the atonement?
I found a shade of similarity between Madhav and Mahendra from Rabindranath Tagore's Choker Bali and even little of Binodhini (from Choker Bali) in Tulsi.
I am completely bowled over by how KR Meera has delivered such a powerful story in just 100 pages, every sentence deals with an action or an emotion, really astounded at her firm grip on words. My accolades to the author apply equally to the translator who with same fervor and energy as the author has opened the story to a wider audience, these efforts are easily perceived by the reader.
The Poison of Love deals with the dark aspects of how love (or any emotion for that matter) in excess can make life hellish. And this is where the big, decisive question arises, what really defines an excess, how or when does one know what is an excess?
