A Saga of Love, Endurance and Survival
Girija Sharma
MY OTHER HALF by Krishna Paul. Conversations with Chandana Dutta Red River, 2019, 87 pp., 230.00
February 2021, volume 45, No 2

 Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time….

—‘The Sun Rising’ by John Donne

These lines of John Donne may sound hyperbolic to the modern reader. However, they define like no other lyrics can the enchanting love-story of Krishna Paul and the celebrated writer Joginder Paul. A story narrated through conversations between Krishna Paul and Chandana Dutta, My Other Half is a gripping memoir that recounts the extraordinary life of two people, whose coming together was pure chance but remained the core of each other’s life amidst life’s ups and downs for more than six decades.

The book unravels the Spartan endurance of Krishna Paul: ‘Surely she must have set aside much of herself in order to let us all revel in the world of Joginder Paul.’ These words of Chandana Dutta set the tone for the narrative, woven around her conversations with Krishna Paul. The story unfolds gently—mesmerizing the reader.

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