Tamarind—sweet-and-sour—best sums up this debut novella by Srushti Dhoke. For starters, one is grateful that the young author has not left this dangling like a long short-story. She has instead chosen to explore love between two people. The reader will remember that down the ages, universal love legends are buffeted along by destiny or fate, an unrelenting tyrant who insists on a scorched earth policy that eventually leaves behind no winners, but love.
In Tamarind Ache, the characters one meets are familial folks that people rural India—where at the hours of cow dust folks return home after a day well spent. There’s middle-agedShiva, rough and ready, but with a short fuse to boot. His temper is of no help as he hits the bottle, hoping to drown the demons pursuing him.
One easily identifies with Suchita, with her heart set on growing up to become a doctor. This novella goes much further than a simple ‘boy meets girl, love blossoms’ kind of story. The hero, Shiva, struggles against the cobwebs that hold him back and he does not give up without a fight.
Few can miss the excitement of those first few love letters (so lovingly caressed and concealed under the mattress) and thus begins this journey of love where the hero and heroine—Suchita and Shiva—are at the mercy of fate or destiny. Fate relents, throwing, by a stroke of luck, the twain together again one last time. One could say that there’s more depth to Suchita’s love while Shiva grabs the reader’s attention by being buffeted by the storms that possess him.
This tale of singular passion leaves the reader’s taste buds tingling, touched by both sweet and sour or aadha-khatta-aadha-meetha. As the characters keep pace with the tenor of the tale, believe you me, you will fall in love with the flow, as it takes you through a series of lucky happenstances, to leave you with a lump in your throat as you journey through the old and the familiar. A good read.
Title: Tamarind Ache
By: Srushti Dhoke
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 188
Price: Rs 395