THE WEIGHT OF A CHERRY BLOSSOM (PB)

If you took a map and pinned
each city I’ve lived in, I’d exist somewhere in the tautness of the string
attaching one point to the other. If a life is lived across many homes—from
balmy Chennai to muggy Mumbai, the crackling expansiveness of Delhi to the
breath-taking splendour of Vancouver in spring—where do you truly belong? If
you are constantly on the move, is home just what customs can clear? And how
do you find love, in the middle of it all, when you do not or cannot stay in
one city long enough? Funny, poignant and reflective, the weight of a Cherry
blossom is a fable of rootlessness and belonging in the modern world. It is
equal parts a story of urban loneliness and self-discovery, and of the
healing powers of kinship and love. Revisiting the awkwardness of adolescence
and the chaos of growing up, it looks The foibles of adulthood irreverent in
the eye. Tracing the powerful patterns of family, friendship, storytelling,
fear, love and loss from her childhood to the teetering end of her twenties,
Shruti buddhavarapu takes you through the embarrassing yet affirming
adventures of a life lived with one’s heart on one’s sleeve—through illness,
despair and joy.