Bridge That Broke, The

The current pandemic is a dreadful time for humanity to live through but perhaps it is also an opportunity to pick up torn threads and extend hands of kindness and love towards one another. Such is the innermost instinct of the characters of this story, none of whom however can fully escape the scepticism and uncertainty of the times they live in. Their times are unfortunately marred not just by the smell of death that the pandemic has brought but also by the stubborn continuation of pre-pandemic ills, the evils of injustice, brute force, the shameful parade of the mighty riding roughshod over the helpless and the voiceless. The Bridge that Broke is a story which hinges on the taut points of such tensions and apprehensions. Dr Aman Trivedi leads the way with his conscientious conscious decisions to exhibit kindness and fairness, yet does he somewhere fall victim to the natural impulses of mankind which remain concealed behind the norms of civilised existence? Does his wife Ruksar err in being kind to the wrong man, or has she allowed her personal grief and memory of injustice overtake her duty towards humanity? Is teenager Saira a mischief maker, out to destroy the edifice of trust between them, or is she a helpless soul, victimised by the virus in her imagination even when she survives it physically? This is a story of trust and compassion and an attempted resurrection of faith amidst the strain and struggle of the contemporary times wherein the bridge that connects the two parts of the small town of Sanmian stands as a metaphor for all that collapses in human relationships as well as all that can be picked up, stitched anew and hung up again.