Eternal love, minus the pain of separation
Aradhika Sekhon

The Rupa Book of Love Stories
edited by Ruskin Bond.
Rupa and Co, New Delhi. Pages 211. Rs 295

Ruskin Bond wonders at the fact that the hero and heroine of every love story seem destined to die in one another’s arms, but he justifies tragic endings by saying that had these not ended on a high note, these love stories—of Laila Majnu, Romeo and Juliet or the lovers of operas like Carmen or Tosca—might well have ended in boredom, disenchantment and drudgery. As Oscar Wilde said: "Marriage is a romance in which the hero dies in the first chapter."

Ruskin Bond being Ruskin Bond, he can’t bear to see his readers unhappy and so he says: "I have gone out of my way to track down a number of cheerful love stories in order to counterbalance those that end sadly or in despair." Even though he feels that tragic love stories do have the appeal of leaving "the lovers forever young", the comfort zones of the reader are his foremost concern and so he has even located a short story by Guy de Maupassant, who is considered a writer of morbid themes that "gives us a picture of true love lasting into old age."

Bond discovered that women comparatively wrote fewer short stories than men. That is probably because "they seem to prefer the medium of the novel for this purpose." Thus, male writers dominate the anthology with few contributions from women writers.

Bond has chosen love stories extending over broad spectrums of time and settings. Starting with the translation of a charming little story, From the Sanskrit, the compilation includes
A Medieval Tale by Owen, The Gift Of The Magi by O. Henry, which is one of his most memorable tales written in the early 20th century, and the story that is well known in the Indian subcontinent, Laila Majnun. He rounds off his compilation with two of his own charmingly told love stories, Binya Passes By and Love and Cricket.

In Charles Reade’s The Box Tunnel, he takes us on a train journey during the early days of travel. A swashbuckling soldier bets that he will kiss the lady sitting across when the train enters a long tunnel. Interesting situations with a twist at the end of the tale ensue. In The Love of The Prince of Gothenburg by Anthony Hope, author of popular historical romances, a proud princess discovers that she cannot order love to happen. The story Mary Ansal by Martin Armstrong is of love lost but still sweetly remembered.

A Girl Called Marie by Peter Tizack is a tender story of love lost and found again, leaving the reader with a touch of wistfulness and regret, as does The Duenna by Belloc Lowndes, which has a touch of the supernatural. Bond has included stories with "a touch of magic" in the forms of The Gift of the Magi and The Poison Maid by Richard Garnett, set in ancient times.

Bond takes us on a journey that reveals vignettes of different times and lands and leads us from one romantic situation to another. Without being morbid, despairing or depressive, he celebrates the youth and passion of love. Sometimes, he looks at love tenderly, sometimes passionately and sometimes nostalgically, but love prevails in every story. It persists and survives, which is what adds that special dimension to this book—the absence of grief. There may be a sigh here or a tear there, but not the heart-wrenching pain of love, thanks to Mr Bond.

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