A Devil's Triangle - my entry to the GetPublished contest

Love is a concept that has fascinated every artist: painters, sculptors, musicians, poets, dramatists and story tellers. Its definition varies from person to person. There is this universal all-embracing love for humanity or beyond at one end of the spectrum. Then there is the deep urge for sexual union with a member of the opposite gender at the other end of the spectrum. Millions of shades can be defined in the vast area between the two. CS Lewis the author of the famous Narnia series defines 4 types of love: love for family, friendship, romance and unconditional selfless love. But often the distinction is not clear and one can easily morph into the other. Unconditional selfless love that makes one sacrifice himself or herself for another can emerge out of each of the other three. I have read articles that claim friendship between members of opposite gender usually turns into romance. Even between members of same gender, too close a friendship is often viewed as homosexuality. Freud seems to suggest even love within family has its basis in underlying sexual tendencies. So the overall the distinction is blurred.

The usual subject that generates maximum interest is often the romantic love between members of different genders; though it often goes on to embrace the other forms of love as well. And this love has usually been the theme of most Indian films. I have tended to dismiss the love as portrayed on films as just hype for film directors to make money. Till one day I for personally got to experience this emotion in its burning intensity. It was at this time I came in contact with a few other afflicted souls. And what fascinating stories we had to share while trying to raise our sagging spirits using bottled spirit supplements!

It is one of these stories that I would like to narrate. A real story stranger than fiction! Not one but two love stories intertwined with each other. Love opposed not by society or by parental authority but by another equal if not greater love! Love triangles are of course a common theme in films. The story I would like to narrate is one from real life. The story of a young man who lost his heart not once but twice! To two different women! But then he had just one heart and only one of them could take possession of it unless they chose to rend his heart into two. It was a tough choice which was going to leave somebody hurt whichever way it went. As someone closely involved with these events, I seek to lay out the series of events that lead to such a situation and how it was eventually resolved.

The story also has some other interesting themes explored in films as well: childhood sweet hearts, love at first sight, souls seemingly linked together by fate. It is a story that begins way back at school and culminates at a software company. As some of us may be aware, software companies are the breeding den for romance these days. When freshers join for training, it is like a college batch, full of young men and women with hormones running wild. So much so that IT companies have had to formulate strict rules on public display of affection within company premises.  I hope to give a glimpse of the social life of young software engineers as well in this story.

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.