On Valentine's Day, a look at unusual love stories in books

I am no fan of mushy love stories, especially the kind that seems to populate new  Indian writing. Girl meets boy, they hate each other, they fall in love, they struggle for a bit, they separate and then come together at the end. There is generally a happy ending. 

My favourite love stories are those that are unexpected, that don’t always end happily and that force you to question the very notion of love. 

Here then, is my list of some of my favourite love stories in literature. 

Cobalt Blue — by Sachin Kundalkar and translated by Jerry Pinto. 

This is one book I recommend to everyone. It was originally written in Marathi when released, back in 2006. At the time it was very forward in its thinking— a love story that explores a homosexual and heterosexual relationship. Cobalt Blue is about a mysterious paying guest who enters the middle class Joshi household and changes the lives of two siblings. The stories are told through the perspectives of Tanay and Anuja who fall in love with the paying guest, each oblivious to the other’s feelings. Their lives suddenly find meaning and colour and love and when he vanishes one day, they are heartbroken. Devastated, they react differently to his abandonment. Yet, in some ways they gain a greater understanding of themselves and their self-worth.    

Girl Meets Boy — by Ali Smith

The 2007 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith is a modern-day reinterpretation of the Iphis-myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses— a girl raised as a boy falls in love with another girl, upon which the goddess Isis changes her gender so they can marry. This story features two sisters Anthea and Imogen (Midge) who work as ‘creatives’ for a bottled water company. Anthea falls in love with a boy Robin who turns out to be a girl.  Their love story is told from the point of view of both the sisters. The personal and sexual transformation of the two sisters is told with wit, humour and lyrical prose that shines especially in the love scenes. 

Girl Meets Boy is a tale of acceptance, approached with humour and prose that is beautiful in its versatility. It explores homophobia, corporate and social responsibility and how women are treated like lesser beings in every aspect of life. The call to feminism apart, this is an unusual story of love and acceptance. 

The God Of Small Things — by Arundhati Roy

The debut novel that won the author a Man Booker prize, talks about the cost of loving or in terms of the book, the cost of breaking ‘Love Rules’. Fraternal twins Rahel and Estha have a childhood that is stifled and governed by the Love Laws that lay down who should be loved, and how, how much and for how long. The twins naturally find solace in each other, often considered one person by their very dysfunctional family. Once inseparable, their paths diverge after an accident claims their cousin’s life. Reunited after 25 years and still haunted by their childhood, they realise that they were the only ones that understood each other the best. Their reunion breaks new Love Laws. The drama of a family tragedy comes in the background of local politics in Kerala, social taboos, the caste system, communism and the Keralite Syrian Christian way of life. The controversial subject of incest drew much attention but the story attempts to paint a deeper and more significant picture of forbidden love.   

The Hungry Tide — by Amitav Ghosh

The story is set in the Sunderbans in the Bay of Bengal. Piya Roy is a young marine biologist in search of a rare, endangered river dolphin who enlists the help of a young, illiterate fisherman, Fokir. They cannot speak each other’s language but are drawn to each other by their love for the sea. Piya finds herself attracted to the natural, untarnished world that Fokir represents and to his animal instinct. The Hungry Tide is no simple love story but weaves in the beauty and destruction of the Sunderbans eco-system with the lives of two people who find a deep connection to it. 

Love Is A Mixed Tape— by Rob Sheffield 

The memoir by Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield uses mix tapes to frame the story of his courtship and marriage to Renée Crist, before her death in 1997. Her death after an eight-year relationship left him with an empty apartment and the pile of mix tapes they'd made for each other. Each chapter in the book begins with a playlist of a tape and recounts an episode from their marriage and courtship. At heart it is a tribute to the love of his life, told against a backdrop of music and pop culture. 

Lihaaf — by Ismat Chugtai

The 1984 short story by Ismat Chugtai was published in an Urdu literary journal Adab-i-Latif and resulted in a lot of controversy for its content. Over the years, the story has become one of her more popular works. The story is from the point of view of a small girl, the niece of Begum Jaan. The niece, in awe of the Begum is surprised by what she hears from the Begum’s bed at night, the presence of her masseuse there, and the shapes she sees under the Begum’s quilt. Nothing is directly revealed but hangs suspended in the air. Lihaaf is a dark, scandalous story but funny in its own right.