JOIN USMedication for boredom
The quality of a good book is determined by how long it stays with you after you have finished the last page. In brief instances, fragments of events and lines return as shards of memory from its long-closed pages. They tell stories of love and longing, of change and reflection.
Warm Loving Medication by Akshat Srivastava is one such book, which incidentally, is also good medication for boredom in the age of lockdowns. It is published by Khanna Publishing House and deals with the fragile love story that blossoms between Abeer and the ephemeral Meera. At its core is the concept that love is a destination that keeps at bay traumas and tears; that love can fix everything. A commentary on mental health runs like a thread knitting the facets of the story.
A certain emptiness
Most books these days begin with a murder, but this one starts with a suicide. It gives the protagonist Abeer a jolt. He is aimless and ambition-less, preferring to drift through life, unable to contemplate how life hit him. He works and meets challenges in a linear fashion, without connecting the dots. He has always felt a certain emptiness in his life, but tries to remain optimistic. He meets Meera by chance on a flight and becomes obsessed with her. The relationship reaches a whole new level, simultaneously dark and bright. Her innocence and belief in goodness, in contrast with the cynicism of others, is refreshing. The author has given the reader a wake-up call — life is not an armchair, but something to be deeply examined.
Srivastava contradicts the words of John Donne that no man is an island. The book is not just a love story, but a deeper exploration of loneliness. It is the story of what happens when a directionless pessimist meets an optimistic dreamer; it is their journey to find themselves and their place in the world. ‘Warm Loving Medication’ forces you to examine yourself and your inner monologue, though one wishes that it did not have so many expletives thrown in so often. Perhaps, the author is speaking the language of the millennials and can be excused for this minor flaw. A must read.