Is Love a Worthy Strife?-My entry for the Get Published contest

Dec 12
NabanitaDhar

Oh Love, the most beautiful of all emotions;
Oh Love; the elixir of life;
You are certainly the most charming notion;
But are you, love, a worthy strife?

Love might be an amalgamation of so many wonderful things the world over; but in India it surely isn’t! The land of tragic romances chastises lovers and wreaks havoc in their lives. Love, even in the present day is a quivering quest inhibited at every step with the ancient and debauched shackles of Caste, society, dowry, false conceit and prestige.
 
This is the story of Sneha and Ashish, an educated, well-settled and compatible couple, as they fought the typical stereotypes of the Indian Society. It is the tale of what happened when a boy from a conventional family from UP decided to marry a girl born and brought up in a liberal Bengali household. It is the account of how a passionate feminist like Sneha was compelled to fit into the archaic saree clad, head covered and kitchen centric image of an ‘eligible daughter-in-law’. It is the saga of how Ashish, a judicious young man, toiled to bring together his typically traditional Tyagi family from Meerut with Sneha’s freethinking family from Guwahati. 
‘Is Love a Worthy Strife?’ is a tale of the bumpy ride for an Inter-caste, Inter-state and Inter-language love-marriage in 21st century India. It is a story without the customary roses, diamonds and kisses but is still driven by love. With its twists and turns, it certainly will make you wonder if falling in love is actually worth it. It will make you question as to why love is at the mercy of our narcissistic society and prehistoric dogmas even today. It is a love story which in reality begins after the typical stages of falling in love! Will regional chauvinism and social prejudices eclipse the life of Sneha and Ashish or will they conquer every wretched man-made obstacle for their happily ever after?
Extract:
Sneha sat there fidgeting with her mobile as Ashish’s parents scrutinized her as though she was an alien from a distant planet! The ‘prospective bride’ being all coy and never looking directly towards her ‘potential in-laws’ might have been a norm in Meerut but not where Sneha came from. Being apologetic for being a female was never asked from her till that very moment in life! What she grew up believing was the complete antithesis of what she had to be for them to accept her into their family! Well little did she know that falling in love with Ashish would also entail suffocating the fire-brand feminist inside her at every step of the way!
It was a bitter pill to swallow for she never imagined herself in a situation where she would be put on display to be ‘approved’ for marriage! Questions or rather diktats were fired which she had to dodge without retaliation! With each passing moment the suffocation intensified but she had to bear it for love, for Ashish; didn’t she? 

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India. 



Voting Link: http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/289/

36 thoughts on “Is Love a Worthy Strife?-My entry for the Get Published contest”

  2. Good One Nabanita…. Waiting for the entire story to be out. The extract sounds to be catchy and attractive. Way to go… All the best !!!

  3. Speaking of love, I was in love with a punjabi girl once. One day, after I summoned enough courage to ask her out, I approached her and asked her for lunch. She knew that I liked her and then came her curt reply. 'I don't like mallu guys'. It was such a blow to me because I can't help who I am born as.

    I'm 23 now. I have fallen in love. But I have never had that love reciprocated. I avoid romance books, films and stuff because I convince myself that I am not inteested in that stuff. That is a lie. The reason I avoid those is because I cannot bear to see romance played out on the screen or on those pages because it is a cruel reminder of what I do not have, or cannot have.

    As I get older, I have becoming increasingly bitter. I feel like I cannot make a girl fall in love with me. To me love is something that I often imagine but can never put into words because I have never experienced it.

    You have a great blog btw.

  5. Hope you win and we all get a chance to read this story. Is love worth the strife – it is . The story looks compelling naba and I just voted

  6. You're better off without that conceited bitch! You need to build up your esteem so you can give snappy replies to such rude responses.

  9. I read you story. And it is really good. I will read it agian and good luck.

    Dark Knight, thanks for the pep talk 🙂

  13. Hey don't give up on love… There might be horrible experiences in the way but I am sure one day you will find that right person 🙂

  20. Hi Nabanitha,

    Somewhere I found an agreement between you and me: when it comes to seeing how tradition acts as the fierce inhibitor against love. I wish its detractors knew how different-peaceful and compassionate -our country would have been if it was freely promoted.

    I vote for your theme because I believe it needs be promoted.
    If you see mine too in the same light please vote for me.
    http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/265/

  24. So true.. Despite being one of the fastest growing economies Indian society is still very stereotype. So many love stories fails because inter-caste or inter-state or inter religion marriages are still a taboo in most parts of the country.

    A lovely idea.. All d best for the contest. And I voted 🙂

    And if you think my idea deserve a shot too then do vote for it 🙂 . Check the link for my idea.

    http://www.notionofdreams.blogspot.in/2012/12/eclipse-of-love-my-entry-to.html

  26. The names just revealed the autobiographical trait in the story 🙂 would love to read the full story Nabanita all the best 🙂

  30. My two cents. Love as is it shown on screens or even in books is highly overrated. Love is when you want to be with a person even knowing that you two might bicker about things, argue about more serious things, might not fall in love with looks, might expect some bit of change – but still appreciate the way your partner makes you feel, understands your day and helps out, respects you for who you are and stuff. There's ups and downs in all relationships. But some make it and some don't. Just like any other relationship, love between a mother and a child, two friends etc, this one's a combination of all of those I guess. Hell, I sometimes even argue with my Mom. If you are two different individuals, there are bound to be differences, but love is when you can put those aside and still have beautiful memories. Someone who decides the outlook of a person based on something he/she has no control over – well their loss. Honestly, I do also think that there are people who state it out upfront, rather than much later when it comes as pent up. Also, there are people who use such reasons to mask other serious reasons. But whatever be the reason, I agree with Naba. Don't let one or more bad experiences make you give up on hope.

  31. Am glad you're bringing this one out to the front Naba. Mine's an intercaste too and India still isn't there when we talk about accepting other cultures. As more and more people interact, these situations are bound to arise, and I hope people get more accepting eventually. Best wishes for the contest. I have a similar theme – except it's going international. When we want western clothes, cars and gadgets, hell even toilets but not a westerner in our family.

  35. Thanks Deepa…I hope the same, I hope every one does and intercaste, interstate, inter religion marriage so that in the future generations none of the 'culture' crap exists!

    All d best to you too!!

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