Namita Gokhale 
The Habit of Love 

The Habit of Love is a collection of stories about the inner lives of women. Some of these women inhabit the ancient past; some the present day but they share the whimsical humour with which they speak of themselves. Journalist Madhu Sinha strikes up a friendship with a young man the same age as her indifferent children; a messenger swan relates the story of the doomed lovers Nala and Damayanti; Vatsala Vidyarthi suspects her one night stand of stealing her money. Delicately poised between irony and grief; The Habit of Love is both elegant and acute; arch and melancholic. In these moving stories she displays both sympathy and understanding as she unveils the workings of a woman’s heart.