“That’s My Love Story”, by Santosh Kalwar published this year is a story of a young man and his search for true love. I started to read the eBook and was so engrossed that I finished it within a day. The author has given a completely new perspective to the story by sharing the life of Prem that is depicted as “the protagonist” in the novel. Initially, I felt that it would be a love story with up and downs in the relationship. But this story had a different flavor to it; Prem tries to commit suicide as he did not find true love in his life. The story is like a conversation of Prem with and old man and during his journey to climb the mountain cliff, he remembers various incidents in life about love and finally he narrates the story of his life to the old man.
After reading around 15-20 love stories till date, I found this rather interesting and inspirational one. Traditional love stories have a hero, heroine and a villain but here the story starts in which “the young man”, Prem shall die. He challenges to climb to the top of mountain and jump off the cliff and he encounters himself with an old man. This old man has great wisdom and teaches him an important life lesson and changes his thought of committing suicide. The old man also teaches that love of women is temporary and a new definition of love is explained.
I am sure every reader will find this novel different from the traditional love stories by other authors. Prem and his journey in search of love prove to be inspiration for all the people who have fallen in love or experienced the feeling of love in their life. His character is sad, lonely, depressed, suffering from mental illness. He cannot handle failures related to love and relationship, life-problems that he encounters in everyday life situations. Prem in search of true love and relationships narrates his experiences and makes the novel an interesting read. The interesting incidents, twists and turns move the story forward.
Prem’s relationships with various people in his life right from his father, mother, sisters, women have been show cased in lucid manner. His overall character in the novel depicts his way of living life and moving on to new avenues. Through life’s journey, Prem fell in love with four girls (viz. Shrisha, Pooja, Vrinda and Sharmila) meeting them directly or indirectly.
The incidents narrated in Prem’s story lifts life to a new level and give a better understanding about various emotions in a person’s life. The lesson to move on in a relationship and think on the relationship from different point of view leads to happy life is learnt.