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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Love

It’s that time of the year, when love is in the air, as goes the cliché. Today all will be talking of love, love and more love. For the last five years or so, I have been telling love stories in my Blog and thought I would do the same this year, but then I wanted to avoid clichés this year, so decided against it. No love stories this year, but let’s talk of love, since love is in the…. We will skip that, I guess.


So what is love?

With decades behind me, I make my little effort to understand this unavoidable four letter emotion.

Is it the way he looks at her? Or is it in a lovers touch? Or is it her presence? Or is it just her being around? Or is it in his sweet words? Or is it the small things he does for his lover?

Is it easy to find love or does it take a life time to find it?

Where art thou, my love?
Looked for thee everywhere,
But could find thee not
Where art thou, my love?

Looked for thee in the East
Where the sun rose,
Looked for thee in the West
Where the sun set,
But could find thee not.
Where art thou, my love?

Looked for thee in a moonlit night
Looked for thee in the Madhuvana
Looked for thee under the kadamba tree
 But could find thee not
Where art thou, my love?

Looked for thee at the seashore
Looked for thee in the waves of the sea,
Sought you in the aroma of the breeze
Sought you in the silence of the night.
But could find thee not
Where art thou, my love?

Oh questions and questions galore! How does one explain love, the single most driving force for mankind and as the cynic would say, for the gift industry! But no commerce today, please! I am no Archies and I am no manufacturer of silk hearts of varying sizes to be stuck on gifts and to be discarded tomorrow morning.

I am the heart that beats for her and the heart which aches for her.
I am the heart which throbs with passion and which displays emotion.
I am the heart which often goes fickle and silly, all for her
I am the heart which loses its rationality when she looks at me
I am the heart which melts at her smile and hardens at her indifference
I am the heart which pines in her absence and throws tantrums when she is back
I am the heart which displays ego but submits at the drop of her eyelid

So do these emotions matter today? Are these worth anything in the world of ostentatious displays of love in social media? Do these matter in a I-love-you-I-aint-sure-you-are-the-one times of love? Or is it that love is for keeps for some while the same is old fashioned for some?

I have been on earth for quite some time now (and I hope god is not reading this!), but when it comes to define love, I guess I have miles to go…..but can safely say, felt it! It’s a joy, it’s a pain, its laughs and its tears. If it ain’t all this, then I guess it’s not love….at least not for me.

I guess only a lover can understand what love is when he says…

Kiss the cup, my love
Let this be my elixir
For lovers need no nectar of heavens;
The touch of your rosy lips
          is all I seek
After this, even if the cup
          hath an adders juice
I would gulp it down with glee
And embrace the messenger of Yama.

Here's wishing you ....


(The italicized pieces are from my forthcoming novel)

Love stories from the previous Valentine Days –