The Poison of Love | K. R. Meera

“Love is like milk. With the passage of time, it sours, splits, and becomes poison.”

The Poison of Love by K. R. Meera is a contemporary novel set around its protagonist Tulsi and her decayed, eventually dead, love. This book presents the story of a woman who fell in love with a philanderer, loses her sheen over the years, only to live and die a wretched human in the end.

Tulsi, you fell in love with Madhav. You were enraptured by his envious charm, his twinkling eyes, his mushy romance. You, straight out of IIT, a brilliant student, an independent woman was smitten by Madhav. His love took you in its arms and you found your solace in them. You were madly in love with him. And you eloped with him. You gave up on a bright career and became a lovelorn woman. Madhav loved you and you didn’t want to love him any less.

And so you loved him, loved him to no ends. His love consumed you, bit by bit, and you reveled in this decay. Over the years, you gave birth to two sons and a host of misgivings. You saw through Madhav’s lies, didn’t you? He loved you and you believed that it was only you. And you stayed and let the love turn sour. Despite the deluge of emotions shaking you to come out of your reveries, you didn’t. You stayed put until one day. And that day, you loved him a bit more, maybe the most, only to lead him to dead remains of his parts. You laughed and laughed hard at him, at you, at your decayed love.

You said, “I will love that man. With bitter resentment, I will love him. In my hollow heart, I shall safeguard that beat of revenge to ensure his destruction. I shall emit the agony of bones falling off. I will haunt him until death — and beyond. When he attempts to kiss another woman, he shall be smashed to smithereens.” And so he did Tulsi, so he did.

You loved, you underwent pain, gallons of agony, and then resented. You left with only one question. Why did you let love corrode you? Why did you let it consume you and destroy you? I tell you, you left me with bigger whys existing all around me, deep-seated in this society. I don’t know if I’ll ever get my answers.