If you haven’t explored Odia literature yet, here is why you are missing out on some of the most intense, earthy, and heart-wrenching romance stories ever written. Forget the alpha-male tropes of Western romance. The classic Odia hero (think Gopinath Mohanty or Surendra Mohanty’s characters) is usually a student, a struggling artist, or a farmer. He is intellectual, slightly melancholic, and expresses love through poetry or a lingering glance across a crowded Rath Yatra .

When we think of romantic fiction, our minds often drift to the misty moors of England (Jane Austen) or the bustling coffee shops of New York (Nicholas Sparks). But tucked away in the eastern coast of India, nestled between the blue waves of the Bay of Bengal and the green hills of the Eastern Ghats, lies a language that paints love with a different brush: .

P.S. For our non-Odia readers: The word "Bhauni" (little sister/love) has never sounded so sweet until you read it in context.