Love in the time of...

I am not as big a fan of Senor Marquez as Narayan or Rand’s and although I do like his 100 years of solitude and agree that it is a more difficult book to write than any other, I would rather stretch myself with a Guide or a Fountainhead. There is however one book by Senor Marquez that completely floors me- Love in the time of cholera.

I am a die hard romantic, but not in the conventional sense. While, I may not get a woman cuddly toys or fresh flowers I would most certainly walk holding hands into the sunset lost in a conversation or wait for the one I love all my life. Anyways, this is not to self-examine my romanticism nor to justify the flaws in it, this is to write about a book that I hold very dear, which I believe to be one of the most romantic books ever written and in the characters of which I can see all that is right…and wrong.

Love in the time of Cholera has a very simple storyline and some may very validly call it an old fashioned melodrama. It is all this and much more. Often in the greatest work of literature, it is the inherent simplicity of human emotions that makes a simple story immortal. Narayan had the gift and in this book Senor Marquez proves that it is possible to write an immortal book on a very simple premise.

As a young woman, Fermina Daza kept a lengthy and passionate correspondence with Florentino Ariza, who was socially her inferior, but was desperately in love with her. They became engaged through their letters, exchanged through hiding places and telegrams in code.
But one day, when Fermina Daza comes close to Florentino Ariza in the market, she feels suddenly ill and tells him it was all a mistake. Instead, she marries Dr. Juvenal Urbino, a European-educated perfectionist, who falls in love with her on a medical visit. Their tumultuous but affectionate marriage lasts over fifty years, through a civil war, cholera outbreaks and the Doctor's brief affair with a patient. Juvenal Urbino distinguishes himself by instituting policies to combat cholera. He dies, falling from a tree as he attempts to catch his pet parrot.
Florentino Ariza comes to the wake. He is now about seventy and controls a wealthy shipping operation. After the other guests leave, he approaches Fermina Daza, saying, "I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and ever-lasting love."

She throws him out of the house, but continues to think of him. He becomes a regular visitor. Finally, they take a boat ride together, down the rivers that are being slowly drained and poisoned, listening for the cries of the manatees. They do not return, but prepare to sail on forever.

This novel has an epic air to it and the conversations between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza in their old age is amazing and mature. A novel that moves across almost a lifetime reflects patience and wisdom not to mention immortal love of Florentino Ariza.

Young Florentino Ariza loves Fermina and talks of immortal love when death and age is alien to him, the fact that he honours it when he sees death all around him and is face to face with mortality reflects the illogical and inexplicable nature of love and human happiness. The fact that vows of immortal love made when young which may sound absolutely idiotic and stupid to some- may yet be honoured, much later in life when we ought to know better, in the face of the undeniable fascinates me. The superb interplay between love of the protagonists (or antagonists as you see it) and cholera is brilliant.

Each time I read Love in the time of cholera, I recognise something that we all know-The only distinction between being madly in love and mad is in the love.