The recently launched audio-book I Too Had a Love Story is based on the eponymous novel by Ravinder Singh. Narrated by Swetanshu Bora, with a brief introduction and conclusion by the author, the audio work has a six-hour duration, which has been divided into 45 tracks for convenience.
Audio books in India have not been very popular. Traditionally, the ones available are focused on self-help, motivation or education. Producing a romantic novel in this format is a bold experiment in itself. Not having read the original book earlier, I had my initial reservations about the novelty of this “audio novel”. Later, however, after I had finished listening to the whole work, I must confess I changed my opinion. Perhaps this is the format that works better with the story than the original print medium.
Based on true life, this audio book lets the reader (rather, the listener) delve into the author’s mind, heart and his closest personal thoughts as he journeys from being a software engineer freshly minted out of college to a young adult who has just discovered the magic of love. Just as he is excitedly poised on this threshold, looking forward to the rosy promises life offers, the cruel blow of fate strikes, wrecking his dreams.
A novel with a tragic love story as its central theme is something that has certainly been done before. Neither is the theme novel, and nor is the plotting skilful. The book is replete with numerous pedestrian conversations like “How was the journey?”, and pointless trivial details such as sending an SMS, boarding a plane, having dinner at 8.30 pm and so on.
And yet, the author succeeds in capturing the listener’s attention by drawing him close enough to feel a part of the entire experience. It is through those fragmented and seemingly unimportant details that the entire picture emerges. The experience of listening and sharing the author’s love story is akin to leafing through the pages of his well-chronicled diary.
Credit must be given to the narrator, Swetanshu Bora, for skillfully changing his voice and tone for all the characters according to the mood and situation. From Khushi’s timid voice, to Ravin’s busy voice in office, to that of the professional air-hostess, he is able to emote a vast range of expressions.
A book can be read and reviewed. One can admire the complexity of plot or the beauty of language. But how are euphoria and grief reviewed? They can only be experienced. And this is what the author lets you do, by transporting you into his world, where you experience with him the excitement, joy, grief and pain of love, just the way it happened.
It is the honesty and simplicity in the narration that strike the right chord. Right upfront, the author has shared his motivation behind this book — not to create a literary masterpiece, but instead, to pay a heartfelt tribute to his love, in the best possible way that he could. You can overlook the avoidable repetition of words, uninspired phrases, incorrect prepositions, or even the spattering of Hindi — for this is a tale that is better heard than read.
Paritosh Uttam is the author of Dreams in Prussian Blue