Love In the Time of ...
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya weaves a love story around the Indo-Japan war.
(This extract has been taken from the first chapter of Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya's Love In the Time of Insurgency)
Earthsmell. She took a deep breath of the moist air that rushed in through the half-open door. The nightlong downpour had ceased, leaving behind a dull, gloomy day. But she continued to lie in bed, her clothes dishevelled, her legs drawn close to her face that rested sideways on the pillow. Ishewara was lacing his boots with deft fingers, his face expressionless. Repulsions swept over her. She knew he was leaving her. Would he, if he loved her?
She remembered the day she had first come to this cottage.
It had been just such a rainy day. He had found her all alone in the paddy field, and brought her here, a year ago today. They were an unlikely pair, bonded only by the fact of living.
He of course had promised to make that bond permanent. Let the war end, he had always said. And now the war was certainly going to end. Bit would it end as he wished it to? The invading Japenese Army that had reched Kohima and Imphal was held there by the British and Ondian forces of the 14th Army. Both sides had suffered heavy loses. But finally, Japan's Army was retreating and she knew Ishewara could no longer think with manly confidence about her, or about the promise he had made to her. Something else gripped his mind now, something terrifying cold, uncertain.