Book Review: 'Still Loved Still Missed' by Mridula

The book with the name on the post title is a collection of beautiful vignettes. It takes not more than an hour to read it unless one repeats some of the stories like I did. It has a beautiful thread holding it together - the bitter-sweet pain of separation.

Separation, mostly by death, is scary, especially if you are old and lonely. The author permeates the feelings in very few words and successfully gets the reader experience between the lines. The characters are warm and life-sized. The stories flow uncluttered like the bamboo coracle (the protagonist in the title story) does in its yore. I thought these lines in the poem, 'Love under the Lavender Tree' (part of the book) encapsulates the emotions well:

You went out first as always to help,
And I was left here to melt.

Each spring I longed,
To see you back strong.
None who went out returned,
And, I was overturned.