A Tender Love Story for Mature Adults

 For the Love of Apricots, by Madhulika Liddle

When did you last love a character so much that you wanted to race through the book because I couldn’t have enough of her, and yet, you consciously slowed down because you knew you didn’t want the book to end? Nandini Mathur, the 40 year old protagonist of “For the Love of Apricots” is exactly that character. She is clumsy, accident prone and impulsive. Yet, she is also efficient, hard working and resourceful. She can be brusque, but she will do anything for the people she cares about. She pads about in a shapeless jacket and well worn trousers, but finds time for the moments of beauty that take your breath away.

Nandini’s father chose to move to the hills post retirement, but it is not clear why a young woman who clearly grew up in the city would choose to bury herself in a hill station where she doesn’t even have anyone to talk to. Yes, she has set up a women’s cooperative that manufactures pickles. Yes, she goes for long walks in the hills and has a beautiful garden. But one would normally picture someone like her living in a city apartment with a balcony garden, dreaming of the hills while she goes about her daily chores.

When Vikas Joshi, Negi Sahib’s distant relative, purchases his apricot orchard, he and Nandini keep running into each other. Far from being love at first sight, in fact, their relationship got off on a bad note and they maintained what could at best be called an uneasy truce. But they gradually grew to understand and respect each other, and from that grew a tentative affection.

This book is a refreshing change from most romances- it is a love story between two mature adults who have seen enough of life to be skeptical of romantic love. Sparks do not fly when they their hands accidentally brush against each other (in fact, their hands do not brush against each other at all), but they each see the other for what they truly are, and that is more precious than sparks flying.

I also loved the way the author describes the relationship between Nandini and her father- they live in the same house, but lead their own lives. Would her father even notice if she goes away, Nandini often wonders, or will life go on just the same for him.

The book is rich in sensory detail- you can taste the various jams, chutneys and pickles, you smell the pine needles and the flowers dripping with nectar, you can be dazzled by the variety of flowers, you can even be stung by the bicchu grass. Reading this book literally transports you to the hills and makes you forget everything else.