Lockdown Love : A Novel: A Tale of Commitment and Duty

When Colonel Vikram Rathode of the Indian Army calls Dr Nisha Garg in New Delhi from Drass after 13 years, his carefully-constructed world of ‘missions impossible’ and honour stripes crumbles. Vikram has to make a choice between love and duty. And, with the Corona virus pandemic raging across the world and threatening to bear down on India, Vikram stakes his career to leave his post to pull Nisha out of the mire into which she was sinking at the isolation ward in Delhi’s prestigious Safdarjung Hospital. Vikram elopes with Nisha from the hospital, braving the Covid lockdown – for he cannot go wrong in life again. He had made a mistake 13 years ago when he left her for the Army. He has to make it up to her. Entwined around a debate over whether army officials are entitled to leave on personal grounds in times of national emergencies, Lockdown Love, explores the daring frontiers of personal compulsions against the call of duty – and military commitments. A passionate and nail-biting drama that begins in the icy mountains of Drass and moves to New Delhi, ending at the army post in Udhampur. A thought-provoking and delightful novel. A true page-turner!

Rakesh Kumar (R.K.) Singh is a serving officer in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who has written four books, both fiction and non-fiction. The topics range from policing methodologies to Naxalism, as well as novels. He has also written more than 100 articles in leading newspapers and magazines on diverse subjects. In his 25 years of service in CRPF, he has been decorated with several medals from the Government and ten Commendation Discs. He has served in conflict zones such as Kashmir and in the north-east, besides in areas like Dantewada in Bastar, affected by Naxalism. He is a resource person in the Bureau of Police Research and Development and lectures at various police academies. He has received the prestigious Govind Ballav Pant Purashkar for his books – “Naxalwaad aur Police ki Bhumikaa” in 2011 and “Naxalwaad – Ankaha Sacch” in 2021. He can be reached on his e-mail at rksingh47@gmail. com; on Twitter at @rksingh4971. Lockdown Love is his third novel.