Asha G Kumar

It Must've Been Love, but... Asha G Kumar

"Life has a perverse penchant to reward and to punish. At times, it is hard to decipher one from the other."

The charming Apeksha Ayengar, meets her partner, Maya, in the unlikeliest of places: in a school where they both teach! A mother of two, the affluent but lonely Maya is entranced by Apeksha's confidence and passion towards life. Their intense, forbidden love unfurls in the shadow of Apeksha's bereavement for her mother. Distraught at losing her soulmate, her mom, Apeksha, finds anchorage in Maya. Maya's intense love seeps into Apeksha's being. Maya too wants and needs Apeksha. She is keen to pursue selfhood, her true sexuality, and yearns to "live." But, Apeksha's love is blindsided by a dangerous, concealed streak in Maya, who battles conviction and convenience. Caught in a vortex of violent emotional upheaval, Apeksha discovers the depths of darkness of the human mind, love's potency and its ability to push its victims to pernicious heights.

Exploring the limits to women's freedom, this novel debunks several stereotypes about modern Indian women and their passion, while examining an entire spectrum of selfhood, sexuality, love, loss and betrayal.