In fact, the first thing I did after reading this book was to recommend this book to my gang of friends.

So yeah, this is a love story, but not a love story where girl and boy meet and they romance at cafes and restaurants and say gooey stuff to each other all the time.

This love story is unique, it is endearing, it is inspiring, and it is “unimaginable”. Yes, love can shape our lives but our lives can also shape our love.

The love story here is between Adwita and Adarsh. They first meet at a wedding when they are still in school—he in the ninth standard and she in the eighth.

For Adarsh, it’s love at first sight but for innocent Adwita it’s big trouble.

Adwita does everything she can to ignore Adarsh’s overtures, his initiatives but Adarsh is too smitten to back down so easily.

Everyone in Adwita’s family gradually start liking Adarsh, including her friends but Adwita is never game for a relationship.

She wants to do well in academics and then get a good job for stability.

It’s difficult for anybody to resist this level of dedication and passion and after five-six years Adwita also starts getting weaker but then she sees her sister and best friend getting hurt in their marriages and that puts Adwita off the idea forever.

But Adarsh has never even looked at another girl all his life.

Adwita doesn’t understand the reason behind Adarsh’s passion and they come to an impasse.

Romantic novels abound in the book market but this book is one that needs to be picked up by every reader who enjoys good stories.

India is said to be a progressive country. We are developing in every field. We are competing with other countries. But when it comes to the middle class, things still look bleak for the Indian women.

Indian women are raised with certain values, with certain expectations—there is a certain culture that Indian women carry within themselves; it is part of their identities.

But at the same time these women are receiving modern education, they are being exposed to western thoughts and ideas.

Our traditions teach us to be docile and submissive but our education teaches us to be self-reliant and independent.

And this is creating a major clash in the psyches of women all around the country.

Young, working women want to break free of the shackles of expectations and create a life that suits them best and the moment they do so, society converges on them and chastises them and look down upon them and humiliate them.

Is marriage all that life is about for a woman?

What does a woman expect from a man she marries and submits herself to—just sustenance? Not really.

A man should know how to understand his partner and respect her. Women do that for men all the time and now it’s time for the men to return the favour.

Adwita and Adarsh live through a love story that can only show the world what’s the ideal definition of love.

Reviewed by Priya Das.