Books always stir some emotions within us...and I distinctly realised it this week when I finished reading 2 books which evoked exactly polar feeling within me...
Starting with the later one coz i just finished reading it some 10 minutes back.
Love Story by Eric Segal.
I know I needn't say much after that.( but they apparently forgot to teach me how to keep mum! :D). Aptly described as a book for anyone in love, was in love or hopes to be in love, I first read this one in 10th std..but what I feel right now comes nowhere close to what I felt back then. I was actually thinking of him while reading..recognising myself as the sarcastic 'Jennifer' n him as the competitive 'Oliver'. I know, I know...we all have this incorrigible habit of putting ourselves as heroines in chiffons/heroes in designer jackets romancing away in Switzerland!! And this is what this book exactly compels you to do!! Those verbal duels, that gaali-galoch (my most fave part) and lastly the tragic end...all endears you to 'Jen n Ollie'. Just when you think it's a 'happily ever after'...jenny dies! Just like that! No Hindi film melodrama! No financial crunch that she cant be treated..no prayers coz 'usse davaon ki nahi, duaon ki jarurat hai' crap..not even Oliver's amitabhseque confrontation with God saying,' maine aaj tak tumse kuch nahi manga..par aaj mangta hoon'!! And sadly there isn't even a coming back to life..a la miheer virani, which I was soo fervently hoping for. The book just got over. N that's what makes this story real. Tragedies happen in real life! Something totally unforeseen can strike any day...so cherish all that you have right now..loved ones, friends, family. Set things straight with them..a heavy heart can get a tad bit difficult to die with. As he once told me, 'Put it down. Don't carry the burden with you'. So true :-)
As for the book, 'Love Story' has a sequel named 'Oliver's Story' which I am yet to lay my hands upon..but I am no rush to read it. Jennifer-Oliver seem far too closer to me this moment and imagining Oliver with someone else wouldn't quite appeal to my conservative sentimentality. So this very moment, I just prefer to sit back n reminisce this tragic love story that nevertheless brought a smile to my face.
