It is going to be a month since I finished the Nobel Prize winning widely acclaimed Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Love in the time of Cholera’, henceforth LITC {let it have some resemblance to NITC ;) }. My friend from whom I borrowed the book, gave a ‘thumbs down’ to the story. But having heard and read rave views about the book which was also made into a movie last year, I made up my mind to have a go at it.

Having started reading during my final semester exams, I could complete a dragging 85 pages when the busyness of Major project presentation weaned me away. Towards the end of May, I decided to finish it in one sitting itself.

From the start of the story “ Florentino (male protagonist) in old age still being ready to receive Fermina (his love interest) even after more than 50 years in yearning for her love made me feel like it is going to be good and interesting. But after a bright start it was dull pages after pages turning the leaves of which made me feel asleep in the hot afternoons. After painstakingly going till the 85^th page, I felt it was high time that I put an end to this ordeal.

After having finished all the formalities and biding goodbye to all the good times I spend in college, my early vacation days was spend with taking out LITC in the mornings and keeping it some place where my glances will repeatedly fall on it hoping for some kind of sympathy to generate in my sub-consciousness that will make me finish the book (or some kind of supernatural intervention :D).

But it was my friend’s message asking me to return the book when he lands in Trivandrum that became the real motivation. So on the 22^nd May morning I started to continue from where I had left off with a touch back for refreshing the story. Florentino & Fermina (from now on Flora and Fermi ). Flora wooing the ‘sew girl’ Fermi, aunt being the conspicuous aide rather silently. While going through pages after pages I was looking at those hidden indicators that would suggest a ‘Cholera’ epidemic was brewing to spread its vengeance (doesn’t the title suggest an epidemic?).

Fermi’s father taking her away, and the inquisitive Flora keeping in tough through telegraph. Flora becoming a love sick poet, he joining his uncle’s shipping business. Fermi being married off to a doctor. It was going and going but WHERE WAS THE CHOLERA? Must have used it for the effect of ambiguity. But even after Fermi being officially wedded to another person, Flora set his ambition to regain his love, the thought which was soon to be dissolved in the murky waters of LUST.

Flora was soon into carnal pleasures to ‘ease him off his pain’, as meant by him in the book. But it was not a single affair or only once in the story ‘one-night stand’, it was to go on all through the book to the 2^nd last page. While Fermi was having a good and most of the times, a happy marriage. And here Flora was swimming in his lust for warmth. I was fed up after reading his affairs after affairs. Was it a ploy to lengthen the book? Whatever it may be, it helped me as I was able to attain high speeds of like 3 pages/minute.

Flora’s relationships transgressed ‘ages’ and he even failed to see the thin line separating morality and decency and pure bodily pleasure. Years passed (and still no sign of cholera), Fermi’s husband and Flora became known to each other, the doctor dies. Flora sees a new opening to renew his relationship with Fermi. Fermi finds solace in Flora during her difficult emotional times. Both embark on pleasurable river cruise after a few months. Flora fulfils his long wished desire adding another name to his ‘company’ book, which I think must have run into volumes having taken much of the beating during more than a half-century off washing the dirty loins of his escorts.

I finished the book at last, Pheww…what a relief it was. Having endured a boring, torturous book of lust, lust and only lust. Where was love? Love was shown as something spiritual in some of the sections and was indeed mentioned as one somewhere. What was the point in giving a nonsensical title as LITC for content less, uninspiring book such as this. I wonder how come in all the reviews, the book was mentioned as something like ‘truly brilliant, mastery of words, out of the world’. The cholera must have been all the sins against love that Flora must have committed.

PS: Not to hurt the sentiments of those who liked ‘Love in the time of Cholera’, and definitely not to undermine the ability of G. G. Marquez as a writer.