I had read the first few chapters and then lost track of the story. Just caught up with it this afternoon
Started reading it, ignored all my work, missed meeting someone just to read whatever you had written. That alone should speak more than whatever words I might have.
It is a beautiful, sensitive portrayal of second chances, of a love lost, the vaccum in your life when your partner is no longer by your side, to be an emotional anchor when you are falling apart yourself, the beauty of wonderful friendships that are your bedrock, the despair of a father unable to hold his child, the grief and fear of not knowing whatwill happen to your child, the determination to make everything ook for him, the helplessness of not being able to do enough...
There are so many emotions, and ,threads running through the story that they completely tie you to the story. Sumitra Raizada who yearns for her child to finally have some happiness, who worries what will happen to her great grandchild when they are all gone...
Manorma who has had to grieve for her husband and then her son... a mother who sees her daughter living with memories, young, grieving her life away... a mother who needs to deal with her own demons but yet has the courage to do what is right by her daughter...
Meera who misses her father, yet tries to be mature for her mother and finds a father figure in Arnav...
Mohan.. the child who shies away from touch yet allows the innocence of another child reach out to him...
And Arnav? What can I say? Need I say anything at all? He is a man that every woman wants in her life. My heart goes out to a man who wants too hold and cuddle his child but can't most times because his child shies away from his touch...
And I am intrigued to hear Maya's story... I am intrigued, much like Khushi, why the child stays with Arnav... I am sure she has her reasons and I am trying not to be judgemental but the child seems to be much more Arnav's responsibility than hers. Or maybe that's the way you have written and obviously we are seeing only one side of the story... but whenever I see Maya in the story, she is airy, breezy and more focused on Arnav and his lobe life than Mohan, other than an occasional hand holding with Arnav when Mohan laughs...
Its almost like Mohan is apart of her life that she acknowledges and accepts his ASD but emotionally is happy to watch from afar. Of course kids who suffer from autism, do tend to be rather focused and are likely to be more inclined towards one parent ... so maybe dealing with post partum depression Maya couldn't give him anytime which is why he connected with Arnav but I dunno, I find her emotionally detached and not connected at all with Mohan. It is like she is being a young girl again. I am probably wrong and will regret my words later but that's what I feel as of now.
And I get Sumitra's concern when she says what when Maya has her own children?
Lovely characters, wonderfully etched out story, you have captured Khushi's despair and her sense of loss so wonderfully - its almost as if you have known what it is like to loose someone.
Edited by DMGFan-2b-not2b - 10 years ago
330