About the Book
A Celibate and His Beloved is the ultimate story on love, sex, zest of living, religion and renunciation. This extraordinary novel touches the core of life, challenging the values, customs, beliefs and faith. It is a saga of effervescent aspirations, and ebullient dreams, woven with eloquence and passion, which envelopes existential crises experienced in everyone's life. It is the story of Abe, Grace and Emma. Abe was a post-graduate in computer science, specialised in Artificial Intelligence from Nanyang University. He was also an artist par excellence, who painted portraits in impressionist, expressionist and surrealistic style. On his way to Mumbai, to join an international bank, Abe wanted to spend, a couple of days in the effervescent Goa. From the airport, he went to the beach by bus, and on arrival found that he lost his backpack, which contained his cash, credit and debit cards, driver's licence, and clothes. He had no hotel booking and no place to take rest. It was getting dark. In the bus station, he met a young woman, who expressed her willingness to help him and suggested him to travel the next morning, as it was safer to go daytime. She invited him to her place to spend the night. Abe was surprised, when he reached her house, after a short bus ride, as it was a one-room shack in the middle of a slum. He was shocked to realise that the young woman, Grace was staying alone, doing odd jobs for her livelihood. She prepared a delicious dinner for him, and they ate together. However, Abe was terrified when she told him that as there was only one bed, and no extra space to take rest, he could sleep on the same couch beside her, on condition that he should never touch her intentionally. Abe accepted the challenge. On the next day morning, Abe told Grace his intention to work with her for three days, to make sufficient money for his bus tickets, even though she offered him ready cash. After three days, Abe expressed his desire to stay back with Grace in her shack and work with her, as living and working with her, and he found more enchanting than working in an international bank. He never asked Grace about her and was entirely ignorant of any of her background. She too never inquired anything about Abe. However, they enjoyed each others company. Abe gradually fell in love with Grace, and he sensed that she also was in love with him. They cooked together, played chess, and she sang Hindi film songs for him, most of the days after dinner. On holidays, went out for picnics and outings, and shared the warmth of life, nonetheless, never touching each other. Abe painted a couple of portraits of Grace and gifted her, and she was delighted to get to those paintings. However, there was a feeling in him that she cajoled him to be a celibate. However, the life he experienced with Grace was ethereally beautiful, and he wanted to live with her forever. However, on a morning, after many months, Grace left him, never telling where she was going, and what she was going to do. Abe was left alone, and he was devastated. He searched her all over the country travelling extensively, in the Himalayas, Kumbh Melas, temples for twenty years.Meanwhile, Abe met Emma from the Netherlands, who was researching on the "Sex and Spirituality of the Naked Hindu Monks" in a temple. Abe told Emma that he was interested in painting a portrait of the naked monk. Emma arranged for it, However, while brushing, a naked Hindu monk at the temple, told Abe that sex was the ultimate truth, in fact, a tantric experience, and it made a person a god, and without experiencing lovemaking, there was no liberation of the soul. Hearing, Abe shattered Emma wanted to help Abe. However, once again, he started searching his beloved Grace. Finally, he met Grace, the wealthiest industrialist in the city in a seven-star hotel, while exhibiting his painting. However Grace was not Grace, That meeting completely changed the life of Abe, Grace and Emma forever.