He was one of Test cricket’s finest spin bowlers but at the height of his sporting career in the 1950s Subhash Gupte gave it all up to marry a Trinidadian girl, the love of his life.
That unlikely romance and their long, happy marriage is the subject of a book written by the couple’s daughter Carolyn Gupte. Love Without Boundaries was launched last weekend at the Canboulay Restaurant at Sutton Street, San Fernando.
Carolyn, a former freelance journalist, wrote the book after her parents died. Subhash passed away on May 31, 2002. His wife died on November 6, 2014.
Gupte said she always marvelled at the love her parents shared and their 49 years of marriage.
“Their love kept them together. Couples from that generation never gave up. They sacrificed and struggled for everything. Nothing came easy and there was a lot of compromises,” she said.
According to Gupte, one of the remarkable aspects of her parent’s love story was the fact that they courted for four years, writing love letters to each other while Subhash travelled the world playing cricket as India’s leading spinner and Carol pursued her degree in Canada.
“Daddy was the big star and she was just a simple island girl. They met in 1953 at a cricket game in Skinner Park and they saw each other for two weeks under heavy chaperone. When he went back to India, they stayed in touch and she went on to study for her degree. They could not afford telephone calls and in 1957, they finally got married,” Carolyn recalled.
She and her brother Anil were born in India and a year after her birth, the family returned to build a life in Trinidad.
Gupte said the book, written in a conversational style, has won the favour of the Indian High Commission. The reasons why Subhash turned his back on cricket and his feelings at the time are all documented in the book.
Gupte said many expected her to write her father’s biography, focusing on him as a dashing and debonair sportsman. However, in a society where the concept of love has become warped, she sought to “prove that at the end of the day, amor vincit omnia – love conquers all!”
She said: “One review on its Facebook page states, ‘The storyline alludes to the high ideals and morals, strength among women of Auntie Carol’s (Gupte) generation and a conviction that everything happens for a reason.’
“That is a universal premise that we can all relate to, regardless of what era we belong to, or what God we worship, or our country of birth,” she said.
Gupte said she also wanted her niece Rhiannon to know the legacy of her grandparents.
Passion for writing
Carolyn Gupte can best be described as an all-rounder with a passion for writing. She is a freelance journalist, public relations consultant, school administrator, geriatric caregiver, homemaker and surrogate mother but regards her most satisfying role as that of the author.
At age 14, when she was asked by her Form 3 teacher at Naparima Girls’ High School about possible career choices, Gupte replied without hesitation: “A writer, a journalist.”
She knew it as a young student in England when in 1981 she received her diploma in Journalism from the London School of Journalism and that career choice was further cemented when she graduated two years later from the London College of Communication (formerly Printing), Elephant and Castle.
In 1984, when she returned to T&T, Gupte almost immediately found employment with the internationally acclaimed advertising agency, McCann-Erickson (Trinidad) Limited, spearheading the agency’s fledgeling public relations department, Image.
When she became her father’s full-time caregiver, pressure mounted to write his biography. She said she always knew that the greater story would come from their riveting romance.
Love Without Boundaries costs $100 and anyone interested in purchasing can place their orders through Facebook or call Gupte at 678-9425. The book will be available in bookstores soon.
