LOVE is All You Need!!!

The Valentine's Day kinda seemed like the best time to publish this post. Coz I am gonna talk about "love". Not the Archie's/Hallmark version but the real one. You know, the love that keeps people together for life.

I have talked about it earlier and to some loyal readers, I might have seemed like a sceptic on this matter. And that I definitely am. But my cynicism is not specifically aimed at the virtue of love but towards the way people express it these days. And again, here I have to set you straight. I have absolutely nothing against the exchange of roses or chocolates. Anyone who knows me knows that I adore chocolates.

I just feel that amidst all these Valentine rituals, the "love" aspect gets misplaced at times. Yet again, I am not saying that things were better before the "Western Culture" affected India. Coz really, they were not. Our views and ideas about love were strangely idiotic in the last century and for most part of the country, they still are.

I kinda feel that the word "love" is thrown around too lightly by us. And come to think of it, its but logical. The word "love" is English. Americans/Englishmen say it when they really feel it, coz its their language and hence they are able to associate the right feelings to it. For us, on the other hand, its just a word. We know what it means but since we don't emote in that language, it becomes easy to just throw the word around without the correct feeling.

And you'll know that I'm not talking out of my ass if you start analysing the differences in the courtship styles of the different cultures. For instance, Americans don't begin relationships with "I love you." We do. They use the L word very sparingly. Often, two people date for over a year and live together for another before they utter the word "love". What does that indicate?

While in India, "I love you" is the go-phrase for asking a girl out. How then will the word carry the same weight as it does in the west? In India, the phrase "I like you" just doesn't do it. A girl will not even react to such a statement, let alone going out with you. So, you'll have to say the three magic words to her, irrespective of how you feel about her. Coz needless to say, its not possible to fall in love with someone without actually knowing them. (And for a lucky few who do fall in love at first sight, its almost impossible to stay in love after getting to know the person. Ref-Ted Mosby.) 

I used to feel like I was incapable of love. That's when I realized that everyone around me had varying definitions of love and staying true to one definition meant cheating on another. So I decided to start afresh and mean it whenever I say that I love someone.

Love is a feeling like no other. Its intense and warm. Its more complicated than its simple. And it needs to be earned. And its difficult to maintain coz of all the disillusionment that lurks in the background of any relationship. But if you happen to fall in love with a person, after having known them for a while so that you understand who they are, there's no feeling stronger or purer than that.

I'll sign out with that message for this Valentine's Day. Have fun! Ciao.