STARS FROM THE BORDERLESS SEA By SHALINI MULLICK (REVIEW)
The first story is called Sayonee – Soulmate. When you start reading, the feeling of camaraderie between the protagonists, and the perfect love they share, grows along till the end of the story when you realise how apt the title is. It is through a collection of letters – “long airmail envelopes and blue inland letters” with “postmarks from civilian and army post offices” – that this love shines through, and though life does have its purple patches and its depressing blues, these letters keep the spirits up.
“The quiet observer and the eloquent
speaker were drawn to each other.” Are these two legendary romancers or
star-crossed lovers?
The lines below could
well be the stuff of dreams, making poets rejoice.
“If something could
be the summer rain and the warmth of the winter sun at the same time, it was
her joyous laughter.”
“Each soaked in the
other’s presence, finding solace in silence and their togetherness.”
“And then, she
stepped out into the night, taking the soft embers of the fireplace the
shimmering moonlight and their silence with her.”
The second story is titled
Humsafar – Companion. It brings out the reality of love in all its hues –
romantic love between a young couple, hopeless love which cannot be turned into
fulfillment, the love in marriage that goes through stages of extreme joy and
immense frustration. How a single tragedy can etch its imprint on a
relationship has been brought out poignantly by Shalini Mullick, and yet, hope
lies eternal in the human breast. This story brings out the truth of how
compassion and understanding can, very often, tether a relationship down even
after it has floundered.
A sweet touch is to use
ice cream as a motif to keep love alive.
“Like the ice cream
flavours, we are different in some ways, but we can share our differences and
taste the sweetness of life together.”
Shalini Mullick stresses on the fact that people are often parts of
themselves, and in love, they give some of these parts away to their loved ones
forever. She talks of silent, enduring love, much akin to “the gentle click of
a missing piece of a puzzle falling into place”. All three stories touch upon
this fascinating aspect where the protagonists are part of one another’s souls.
She also believes in the magic of silence.
“The discussions were always punctuated by filter coffee. And silence.
The silence seemed to become him and his apartment… this silence would help her
hear her own voice.” This, in turn, turns into another motif in the story.
“There was a stillness now. Not
an uncomfortable one, but not a deeply satisfying one, either.” However, by
this point, the shadows have been left behind.
The book ends with the third story titled Humraaz – Confidante.
Once again there is romance, there is conflict and there is a sense of
reconciliation, an acceptance of life as it comes.
Certain facets of the author’s persona come out in the stories, like, for example, an obvious love for newspapers, as her protagonists dissect sections of them with frank enjoyment. The women in the stories are strong, if not overtly so, and deal with the turmoil in their lives with equanimity. Maybe they do lose themselves at first, but then find happiness in those flowers within reach. As the author puts it in her third story, each one is "... a woman touched by love and been saved and strengthened by the power it had kindled. A woman who had been fortunate to have loved and been loved back; to have lived life on her own terms, without regrets or misgivings."
Once again, she
refers to silence. “This was a different silence, a mix of stillness and
anticipation.”
Maybe, that is what
the reader senses as well, as this beautifully narrated book brings together intimate
gestures, along with moments of joy and togetherness which help the protagonists
to live their lives without “damaging the fragile threads of happiness that
they had woven into their troubled lives.”
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