In Search of Heer

The whole world loves a lover.
The more impossible his quest for love seems to them, the more they love him for it.!

Heer and her Ranjha. I'm still unsure of where I heard about them, yet the names seem very familiar to me. And that's the only reason I picked this book, to find out their story.

When someone asks you about historic lovers, who will you name?
Let me guess...Romeo-Juliet? Laila-Majnu? Devadas-Parvati?
And why only these names? Because they have sacrificed their own lives for love. 

Their love story might have ended in a terrible way, but they still remained great lovers in the history of love. And apart from that one point that "they sacrificed their lives for love", I don't think most of us actually know why and how it happened. Agree?
But apparently, all the above great lovers have a similar story template, which goes like this: "Two lovers who could not live together because of umpteen number of reasons, choose to die together".

Now Heer and her Ranjha also come under the same category of "Great Lovers of History". And even their story follows a similar pattern. But this book retells their story, by adding some modern ingredients in multiple angles. 

In Search of Heer by Manjul Bajaj is one of the many versions of the Heer-Ranjha love story. And a dramatic story like this will never be only about two people. You will see through their love from many viewpoints, in which, most of the story is described by Heer and Ranjha, on how they feel about each other. And the other parts by a crow, a pigeon, and a goat as testimonials for their bond, which gives a distinct perspective to the story.

Heer, like her name suggests, is a gem of a girl. Her father raised her like a warrior. And she became one. She is not only beautiful and elegant but also most importantly, brave and bold. Being a chieftain's daughter, she is privileged to possess the extra-power which no other girl in the town has. But she always used it wisely to help others, who are in trouble. Never did she imagine that there comes a day when no one stands by her side.

Coming to Ranjha, he is the youngest kid in his family of 11 kids. Being cheated by the same family members after his beloved father's death, he did not care enough to stay any longer with them. He starts his journey in search of Heer to make her his bride. 

One meeting and that's it. Both of them knew that they are destined to be together and their match is made in heaven. But between heaven's wishes and earth's encounter with them, lies a huge unchartered terrain along which they have to make their own way cautiously, step by careful step.

And the huge unchartered terrain is this, which is common for any other love story - unacceptance from society, family pressures, secret meetings, so on and so forth.

Yet, if you ask me the one best thing that I liked about this book, I would say the portrayal of Heer's character. Her feministic attitude. Challenging the societal rules, not afraid to speak her mind. Everything about her is admirable.

But, how much ever strong she is.....

A woman is not a man, even if she is a warrior like Heer. She still bleeds each month. She cannot simply run away and live a life on the road. Her body's curse goes with her. She needs to be private in those days.
Even a temple or a mosque will not allow her in, because she is unclean. 

Don't you think it is unreasonable, that the maker should turn his back on the body he created, during those days?

Concluding, the story is not just about Heer and Ranjha's love. It also depicts what patriarchy can do to a society. If societal acceptance is one thing which both(Heer & Ranjha) never expected or never cared about, then how can they live in the same society? Or will they live at all??

.

P.S:- I never liked a crow in my life as much as I liked its role in this book.😂
And I'm sure you will love it too.!

.

Happy Reading !!

Source: Amazon - Kindle Edition