Love at the time of Cholera: Worse than Diarrhea

I just finished reading this book. I had read One hundred years of solitude because everyone else was reading and I did not want to be left out. I did not understand much of it. When people said it was a great book, I nodded in agreement telling them that I have read and loved it. Gabrial Garcia Marquez, after all, is a noble prize-winning writer and darling of intellectuals but guess what? After reading Love at the time of cholera, I am totally judging those who admire him. Call me dumb, intellectually challenged, or whatever you want to, but I am never going to read Marquez again.


In Love at the time of Cholera, we meet Florintino Ariza who falls in love with Fermina Daza the moment he sees her. Both were young and without any experience at that time. They exchange letters but never went beyond that. When Fermina's father found it, he sends her away to her cousin's place. Life moved on and so did she. She realized whatever she felt for Florintino was not worth all that pain. In fact, she was no longer in love with him and chose to marry a doctor committed to his cause.


But Florintino never forgot and was determined to win her back even after she got married. If you thought this is about eternal love, please wait. This man Florintino fucks a zillion women while waiting on one. He fucks everything that moves including a 14-year-old girl whose mother left her in his custody. He was 74 at that time. He was supposed to be the guardian of that child but then he fucks her and does her plates, makes helps her wear school uniform properly and ties her shoelaces, and oh, takes her to ice cream parlors too.

His lady love did come to him, fifty years later. And when he fucked her, he very conveniently told her ' I have remained virgin for you'.


The concept of obsessively loving the 'one' while disrespecting and hurting other women while waiting for the 'one' is done to death in pop culture. I am thinking of Kabir Singh right now. That man sleeps around carrying the hurt. How convenient? Hurt other women because the 'one' did not give a damn? And the 'one' is the victim as well, of such toxic, maniac, and obsessive love that doesn't give them any space to grow or breathe.

Coming back to Gabrial Garcia Marquez, his books should not be celebrated in this era in the name of ' greatest piece of literature'. He got things not many writers achieve. He won a noble prize for those pedophile books. But now we do not have to glorify his work. There are awesome women writers from diverse backgrounds waiting to be read. Let's focus on them. 

Teresa's man and other stories from Goa

Ther's a young wife yearning for a kiss from her husband who did not like kissing on the mouth. There's this young man wondering what is the purpose of the language other than communicating and connecting with people. And why do they need to protect the 'honor of the language, when they can't protect the honor of a woman who was molested because she came out in ' Bandh' observed in the name protecting their language. There's a young wife dying to have kids and wondering what sin she might have committed to anger Gods that they are preventing her from having such simple joys.


In the land of beaches, beer and parties, live simple people with their simple stories. What makes their stories extraordinary is this Sahitya Acadamy winning Konkani writer, Damodar Mauzo. Translated by Xavier Cota, Teresa's man and other stories is a delightful collection of short stories based in Goa. Most stories tell the plight of women and their highly patriarchal house. For instance, In Teresa's man, a young woman named Teresa is the sole earner of her family. The husband does not do anything while the mother-in-law simply makes things difficult for her by inciting her son to be the MAN of the family. And then there's Electrol Empowerment in which the housewife who is not allowed to do anything her husband's wishes, goes out and vote against the candidate her husband asks her to. That's the most empowerment she ever got.

My favorite is The writer's tale wherein the writer meets a young Tamil writer in a conference in New Delhi. The Tamil writer, Jayatha opened up about her life and tells him that she lives with her husband and his family in a huge house where nobody is interested in her stories. A strange but interesting bond established between the two, leaving the writer puzzled.

I think I will read more books by regional writers. Their stories are simple and yet deep and make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. 

Exquisite Cadaver: Meena Kandasamy

If I have to define lyrical writing in two words, I would say Meena Kandasamy. Her writings are lyrical even when she wrote about her abusive marriage in ' When I Hit You' and it is at it's lyrical best in her latest experimental book Exquisite Cadaver. 

Meena Kandasamy is one writer who is not afraid of experiments. Her last novel When I Hit You was a novel written in the form of a memoir. And in this one, two parallel stories run together. Yes, it will leave you confused when you first lay your hands on this one. But then once you get a hang of it, you won't be able to stop.

In a short book, Kandasamy has told stories about marriage. One is her own, in which she has written about all the things that were going inside her head while writing the fictional story of Maya and Kareem, the interracial couple. Maya, an artist, and Kareem, a filmmaker are married for some time. Maya revisits their marriage when Kareem disappears.


There is a stark difference between the two writings and it leaves you wondering if both were written by the same person. Honestly, I like the one in which she has written about herself and the perils of living in London. I would definitely like to read more of Kandasamy's personal essays. 

Kim Fu : For Today, I am a Boy

So, Peter is a much-coveted child of a Chinese couple who is settled in Canada for years. He is a boy after all, who came after three girls. But then he did not turn out to be the kind of boy society and his father expected him to be. He plays with dolls and wears his sister's makeup. And later it was revealed, he did not even want to be identified as a boy.

In one of her interviews, Canadian Author, Kim Fu, said that she did not speak to any transgender before writing this book. She just learnt about their lives by observing them from distance. She is right, and it is quite evident in her book ' For Today, I am a Boy'. 

I can't help but compare this book with Fierce Femmes and Notorious lairs by Kai ching Thom. Both writers are Canadians with roots in Asia. And both of them were shortlisted for Lambada Awards for LGBTQ writings. Expect, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars ended up winning it. And why not, the story of a boy who was actually a transgender girl was told amazingly after all. It was a fantasy novel which took me to another world altogether. On the other hand, Kim Fu's book was confusing and lost the plot so many times that it left me asking ' what is she trying to say'.  It got interesting for a bit and then dull and boring the next moment.

It seemed like Fu was not sure what to do with Peter and that's because she did not do enough research on transgenders' lives. Alright, we get that he grew up with sisters in a conservative environment but then I wanted to read more about the family where the angry mother said ' I have got worst children. Faggots and Whores'.  It could be a nice family saga or it could follow a boy confused about his sexuality. But no, Fu took a little bit from everywhere and left us with this confusing novel.

But then there were some parts I liked. I liked his free-spirited sister, Bonnie. But again I wanted to read more about her. And I also liked how the mother accepted the fact that her favorite child Adele, a University professor might never get married, something unusual of Chinese mothers.