Head Over Heels

By Naina Asija

'HEAD OVER HEELS' is a story about Riya who walks you through her love life and its impact on her transition from being an oppressed woman to becoming a very strong and powerful woman. She believes if she can be healed through the magnificent force of love then, so can the others too. 
The format in which it is described is Ekphrastic poetry and all the pieces of art are done in impasto by the author herself, giving the readers the actual glimpse of the moments lived by Riya.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Jan 22, 2024

Book preview

1

Married Life

I Montmartre street

At the highest point of a hill in

Montmartre to the north of Paris,

stands a beautiful white-domed

Basilica of the Sacred Heart,

popularly known as Sacre’-Coeur,

which is thronged by visitors all

round the year.

It is a popular landmark,

which has a mosaic in the *The

apse entitled ‘Christ in Majesty’

which portrays Christ in white

robes, arms extended, displaying

a golden heart.

One fine day in the year 2017,

the street behind the Basilica was

abuzz with different sounds,

like the drum beats in the

background,

people laughing over jokes,

vendors selling souvenirs in their

highest volume,

and noise of consumers arguing

aloud over getting better

discounts.

It was then, a group of girls came

giggling and as they sat still,

on the stairs in front of the

Basilica in awe overlooking the

city of Paris at its foot hill.

These girls were having a good

time,

watched the sunset and gossiped

while eating ice-cream.

While going back to the street

they admired artists,

drawing live portraits of mostly

passersby and tourists.

The artists welcomed them too

with a courteous hand shake,

The girls then clicked a few selfies

with the backdrop of their

paintings in stunning

cityscape.

On the slope they visited an art

gallery,

which was located on the

periphery,

along with several other souvenir

shops, cafeterias, pizzerias and

bakeries.

In the gallery, one of the girls

keenly admired the masterpieces

created by artists like Vincent

Willem van Gogh, Oscar-Claude,

Gustav Klimt, Monet and Pablo

Picasso,

she bought seven prints of their artworks,

all painted in *impasto.

This one girl in the group,

who stood apart from the rest in

her elegant look.

She was simple, quiet and

dignified,

her skin was flawless with

*roseate cheeks and hair tucked

to one side,

her beauty and persona was such

that no one could take their

attention off her hazel colored

eyes.

which were very attractive with

the depth of an ocean and looked

like a danseuse at Moulin Rouge,

the nightclub at Montmartre,

which is famous worldwide.

She could be the perfect muse,

for an artist, who could inspire him

to create an art in a thousand

hues,

and still have a thirst for more to

produce.

Invariably the artist would have

many daunting nights,

fearing that he might miss out on

some strokes of her captivating

demeanor, while he was

immersed in her expressive

eyes.

Her name was Riya

whose parents were in India

but wasn’t planning to go and

meet them there anytime soon,

She was married in Montmartre to

Vivek, who was a well renowned

business tycoon.

He was a civilian and belonged to

an affluent family and had a chain

of restaurants across the city,

Vivek had a lot of connections

politically, which gave him an

access to set up his business

ventures easily.

They had an arranged marriage

three decades ago,

and enjoyed a very happening

social status quo,

Also they had a close circuit of

friends, who would hang around

and accompany them with

*errands.

Among friends, they were popular

as the Queen and the King,

who lived in different mansions for

winters and spring.

Riya followed her heart more than

her head.

She took decisions based on the

righteousness of any situation

without any regrets,

which didn’t go well with Vivek’s

logical and egoistic mindset

so he felt stressed.

This inherent nature of Riya

became the primary cause of

friction between the two,

Vivek felt insecure and was fearful

of Riya’s stubbornness over being

always right about what she

chose to pursue.

He prevented her from doing

things and meeting with people

with whom his thoughts did not

align.

He became so possessive that his

discretion got clouded and treated

her abnormally, for he thought

Riya was only mine.

Soon Vivek started confronting

everything Riya did,

This habit of his changed his

personality grid,

into a man who was arrogant,

angry and never candid.

Their issues were not getting

resolved,

as he desperately kept everything

under his control and consciously

prolonged.

Misunderstandings and

communication gaps cropped up

between them,

as what one said, the other

was unable to comprehend.

Then there were moments when

they avoided talking,

for the fear of getting into

unnecessary perpetuation of

existing arguments.

Vivek would often have mood

swings and as a result he would

binge.

In one moment he would be

happy and in the other he would

be rude,

Sometimes he would express so

much love and affection that his

bipolar nature left Riya totally

confused.

Riya was once a woman of his

dreams,

who had become a doormat and

held no value in his life to be

seen.

She felt like a failure with him as

her self esteem was continuously

sabotaged,

Although she was in a lot of pain,

she maintained her sanity and

never barged.

Riya was bullied in the name of

humor,

Vivek would say,"