A quote truly written with a deep thought, a perspective of one’s emotions, a feeling of care, warmth and affection and all other psychological admonishing sensitivities coined and known universally as LOVE. What is Love? The Lexicon interprets it as “deep affection or fondness.” But, many call love to be universal, and that it may appear to be surreal or vary in forms. Yet, it is a phenomenon in this world that can never ever be affected by anything and will remain to be everlasting.
Love, a four letter word is a complex terminology. Why? And the answer is vast, not measurable and intense. Parental love, b
rother-sister love, neighbor’s love, relative’s love, stranger’s love and so on and so forth. Each of it is unique in its own sense, totally different when it comes to terrible situations, challenges our actions and tests our patience, energizes, aspires, inspires people to do things for the sake of love. God made man or however the religious and the science theories of evolution of human kind project; one thing is for certain that we exist at least in a scarce nonchalant harmony for the simple reason that we love ourselves, others, strangers and everything else available, exploitable and harnessed. While sometimes, love happens even before we could think, more often than we rather think; it turns out to be a peculiar, closed, personal and abstract time phase of belongingness.After these intricate details and an effort to build up the glossary of love parameters, I find that love is an experience and this experience can be given or taken. Love isn’t a tit-for-tat condition, a give and take policy that needs a memorandum of understanding unlike all our evocative bureaucrats. Nor is it a one sided affair like a road that restricts two way traffic because a white ambassador is speeding with it’s beacon light making sounds and revolving that appears like an ambulance in emergency.
Quoting one of my favorite lines from the movie The Holiday, where my darling Kate Winslet gives her opening powerful monologue “I have found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose, I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. It’s called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. Oh god, just the sight of the person! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms.” Hats off to Nancy Meyers for bringing such appalling meaningful treat on love that has made this romcom a hit.
Now, let’s go back to my Love. Wouldn’t call it mutual. Invariably love as a feeling becomes personal and close. A mother’s love to her child is unique and nothing can be compared to this love; friendship is also a form of love that binds people for times, a youthful love advances from infatuation to relationship. The question arises as to if love could be measured? A big No! Why? Because it is not a physical quantity. Hello! Wasn’t love supposed to evolve from humans who are physical? Then why can’t love be measured? While some say, just like every morsel of rice or crystal of sugar can’t be counted so is love. The eternal combination and over usage of uncountable nouns right from our textbooks to emotional mother-in-law movies. That being said, love has its own exceptions. Can love be sold? Yes! In kind for sure, helping people because you love them or as Nancy Meyers says that love can also be found for the night, in my interpretation by paying, as all those helpless souls do. However, when love as an entity becomes factual i.e. people tend to utilize love for personal favors or gains then that is called opportunistic love. And contrastingly, when love becomes partial, it creates envy, jealousy and finally leads to hatred, revenge and destruction. When love grows so intense that it becomes ever so difficult to even carry out your basic activities with ease. It’s the highly distraught form… The possessive love: a dangerous one that has today becomes the cause of terrorism, wars, murders, extreme gender inequalities and other heinous crimes. While possessive love is good, exceeding its limits gives room to suspicion, lack of trust, adamancy to do things come what may; while religion, marriage, values and virtues, level of liking and the sacrifice to give care and warmth become the main contributors.
Taking love from others? Honestly, it’s as difficult as it may sound. Our brain is so complex that we at the very thought of liking something, pounce upon and grab it. And when it comes to love, we take our own leisure time to think, to analyze, and exhibit. The probing question: If love if impromptu, why is love never given back? People give and expect love and when they don’t receive the same, feel ashamed, humiliated and embarrassed and at times go to the verge of killing oneself. Be it suicide bombers in the name of religion or the martyrs of war sacrificing their lives. All for the sake of love!
People should start reciprocating to one another in a down-to-earth attitude, show care and concern to others and more importantly help your loved ones in you own small way. And doing this not only makes them happy but out of impulse expresses love. While love is felt emotionally, it is like a photo album - the reflection of memories clubbed with emotions and feelings that make us laugh, smile, cry, hug and over all send that sms or make that call or plainly write a mail. So, giving and taking love mutually exist but it’s always good to go the extra mile and give love and not expect love in return. Doing so will build up your persona in a conventional way. At the same time, have a heart to give more and remember only the good and fond memories for times to come.
Begin to give and take love because we know “Love is precious!”
