Monday, September 6, 2010

Discovering Gone with the Wind

I hate love stories. And no, I am not referring to that hindi movie, just stating a fact. At boarding school, the sisters forbade us from reading Mills and Boon romances on the grounds that it was 'sinful'. Since it was given an honorary position in our school's versin of the Index, we girls simply could not get enough of it. We must have waded through dozens on a daily basis. I remember reading one such romance called "Tender Night" and thinking it was the greates piece of fiction ever written. It was about a typist who gets jilted at the altar and swears off men for life only to be swept off her feet by her masterful boss. Remember being so moved, I actually had gooseflesh.

But I lost my appetite for romances pretty quickly. Initially, it was because all the other girls were reading them and I prided myself on being different. So I used to walk around saying that M & Bs were blah and that I myself was into the classics. Later, I genuinely came to hate the sappy fare that was being churned out in that genre. There is only so much a person can take off high - strung, gorgeous, well - endowed chicks and their self - manufactured drama. My well - meaning sister let me borrow her copy of Judith McNaught's "Whitney, my Love" before my wedding and the cloying romance made me wanna puke. After that awful experience, I promised myself I'll never touch another romance.

I had been avoiding 'Gone with the Wind' for this reason. Billed as the greatest love story of all time I figured it would be nauseating in the extreme. Recently, I came across a copy and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it WAS the greatest love story of all time. Loved the fact that Scarlett was detestable to the fag end and Rhett a bona fide scallawag despite being annoyingly lovable. And the sheer drama of it all! Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!

That being said, I still hate love stories and will continue to do so, but I love 'Gone with the Wind' and will always do so. And I am not ashamed of it.

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