The Woman My Grandmother Loved.

Introduction.

This book is dedicated to all the closeted Indian Teens seeking acceptance.

For the longest time, I've been wanting to write this book. So when lockdown began, I rolled up my sleeves and sat down to write it. I began this book in March 2020; the exact date escapes. Today is 10th July 2020 and tomorrow on 11th, I will have finished this book.

As much as I have attempted to be so, I am not one of those writers who can publish a book while writing it. I have tried and failed multiple times; my plot becomes inconsistent and runs wild. I have disappointed my readers so many times because of my inability to be disciplined. The safest bet is for me to write the first draft, cry when I hate it, write a second draft, change the ending, rewrite the first half, and then finally decide to publish it. It's not perfect but if I seek perfection, I'll never end up publishing it.

We often turn to history to assure ourselves that people like us have existed. Those people have faced the same problems as we have and made it out alive. We look for representation in the pages of the past. LGBT does not feature so much in the pages of Indian Literature and it has been only a few years since its been appearing on Wattpad as well. And whilst scouring the depths of the internet for it, I ended up learning quite a bit about it. And while the seventies (the timeline of this book) is only the recent past, it is still a bygone era.

And so whether you're gay, straight, bisexual, or questioning (and other identities as well) I hope you know that you're valid. I hope you are able to look at yourself beyond something as unnatural and freakish. There might not be a safe space for you to come out now but that isn't forever. I hope you remember that even if holding on is the only thing you're capable of doing at times, it is so, so important to do that. People like you have always existed and will always go on to exist. Don't let the erasure from history scare you or make you believe that they never existed. You aren't wrong, you never were. And it is your absolute right to be able to love who you want to and be who you wish to be. In the words of Captain Raymond Holt from one of my favorite series of all time Brooklyn Nine-Nine, "Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place."

After all, love is love.

Most people live for only seven or eight decades and believe that they know the correct way to live. It makes me laugh because the planet has existed for so much longer and there's so little we know. Yet we go around telling other people how to live. A quick Google search tells me that there are 759. 43 crore humans in the world, you are a speck in that number. There are 759.43 crore unique perspectives and you're telling me yours is the final and absolute truth? When people do that, I hope you remember that there is so much the world has to offer other than just the place you are in, and someday you will find a place for yourself in it.

I have always been a fan of romance novels and I have tried to write them. But I have never quite written something like this before. Halfway through this book, I remembered a quote I had once seen that read Love transcends space and time, and while at that time I hadn't understood it, in the midst of writing this book, I did.

Aside from that, I really hope you enjoy reading this book. As always, feel free to point out the mistakes I've made and constructive criticism is always appreciated. I love your feedback on my books and please don't hesitate to drop a message if you want to! It never fails to make me smile.

Much love,
shortgirlbigbook ❤️

Copyright Disclaimer:

All rights reserved. The Woman My Grandmother Loved © By shortgirlbigbook.

No part of this book may be reproduced without expressed written permission from the author except for brief quotations in a book review or likewise.

Plagiarism is strictly prohibited and is punishable by law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are purely products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.