For most senior folks despite all the worldly wisdom accumulated with the mop of grey hair, one definitive answer eludes them. From times immemorial, among the FAQs that defy the right responses is one relating to inexplicable emotion that rules the affairs of the heart, making people behave strangely under its spell. Men and women over the ages from different backgrounds, groups and cultures have expressed divided opinions on what it’s all about.
Writers, lyricists and poets have verbally painted the most fascinatingly pristine idyllic pictures around it. It’s a truly many splendoured thing they say, irrational and not logically designed to function smoothly, such that it’s even considered as being ‘blind’ at times. For the first timers, ‘love’ when it hits them is that uncanny feeling that’s quite indescribable ! Innumerable Hindi films, songs and ghazals that have formed an integral part of film’s storylines, adding socio-cultural value, have the word ‘pyaar’ imbedded somewhere. Inspiration was drawn from trials and tribulations of legendary pairs like Romeo-Juliet, Shiri-Farhad, Heer-Raanjha, Devdas-Paro. Shakespeare describes in his plays ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ but also ‘What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine’ !
Let’s also look at what many great wits and actors had to say about ‘love’. From the flippant ‘Love is sharing your popcorn’ (Charles Schultz), and ‘Love is being stupid together’ (Paul Valery) to the funny ones like ‘Love is something sent from heaven to worry hell out of you.” (Dolly Parton), ‘Gravitation isn’t responsible for people falling in love’ (Albert Einstein) or ‘Love is a temporary insanity, curable by marriage’ (Ambrose Bierce) to the profound ‘There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.’ (Friedrich Nietzsche). No wonder the Gen X, Y, Z are confused about how to deal with this emotion.
We had in the 1970s seen a film called ‘Love Story’ which had a famous line ‘Love means never having to say sorry’. Later we had singer John Lennon say ‘Love means having to say you’re sorry every fifteen minutes.’ Thankfully, we are now not in competition in this field but we still feel, if there’s life there must be love !
Working on Living 