Ruskin Bond,
the man who noticed those dusty roads, fresh flowers drenched in sun rays, water
dripping off the leaves, gushing through the rivers and the heavenly smell of
earth after the first rain before anyone else. He noticed it all when we failed
and decided to make us walk through all of it in a blink of an eye like he
always does. That's the power he holds, the true magician who needs no
introduction.
'Falling in
love again' is one of the finest amalgamations of romantic tales, poems, and
novel extracts gifted to us by the eternal lover, Ruskin Bond. The title
resonates with the author's vivid memories of the emotion of love, as well as
with the cover of the book.
What's more
beautiful than an oodles of butterflies and flowers to signify this distinct
charm of emotion called 'love'?
This book
revolves around a collection of short stories taking us, the reader into a
pure, innocent world. A world full of longings, promises and tiny fluttery
sensations of tenderness. Starting with one of the classic works of Ruskin Bond
'The Eyes Have It,’ as we move furthermore we see how with each story, the
writer's poignant memories of his short encounters with these women are also
shifting along with his adolescence to middle age to older years and within
this wide range of moods he is not only indulging the reader deeply in his own
raw emotions but also allowing them to recover from the persisting trail of
each story.
'Falling in
Love Again' also contains a couple of excerpts from Ruskin Bond’s other works,
‘The Room on the Roof’, ‘Delhi is Not Far’ and 'The Night Train at Deoli'.
Also, romantic little poems have been included in the chapter ‘ Love Lyrics for
Binya Devi', all these are an absolute treat for all the admirers of him out
there, because who can say no to these beautiful works of art. Though all these
stories are written about different women at different times, they all seem to
represent one woman, in particular, the one who he deeply loved and desired,
who didn't choose to stay with this young dreamer and thus the reflection of
unrequited love and a tint of sadness in all the tales. These stories explore
different facets of love and all of them are quite unconventional – not your
typical corny romances, some of them are really short yet they are able to
linger because of Bond's simple yet elegant writing style, unhurried, flowery
with no tongue-twisting words.
The writer,
here, like always, showed his inherent appreciation for the elements of nature
and mountains in each line of all the stories. To add much to someone's
surprise here we see a glimpse of the storyteller like never before. There was
a sensual side to all these women, their description, as it seems the
protagonist almost compared that with his attraction to nature. All of it was
put into words with brimming intense passion, yet not cringe-worthy at all.
None of the stories features ‘tall, dark, handsome’ men or porcelain faced
beauties we see in other romance novels, they are normal everyday people of
reality, like you and me, who just stumbled upon one another and fell in love.
This is one of those easy, light-headed books to get you out of your reading
slump but one can't deny how the dreamlike setting of all the stories and the
touch of magic adds up all together making this book seem mature, nostalgic,
and whimsical at the same time.
We highly
recommend this one to any romance genre lover who wants a vivid experience of
romance, anticipation, as well as heartbreak, in a nutshell with a huge dollop
of realism and simplicity.
Amazing book, I just read it!
ReplyDeleteAnd this review is really really good and beautifully written!
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