The
temperature is fine, just around 20 degrees. I am witnessing the most amazing
love story consummating into marriage, a very handsome man marrying a very
beautiful woman. I could have well used the superlative degree with both the
adjectives in describing them. Their love life had seen many ups and downs but
their love persisted, love is eternal as we know. Another very beautiful lady
is sitting beside me, full with joy and anxiety for the couple. The two of us
have known of each other’s existence since the beginning of the love story that
I have talked about. I wonder whether our relation will also culminate in such
a way!!
But
how much can a man do to woo a lady in two hours?? The odds are even less when
85% of her concentration is on the screen, 10% on her accomplices and only 5%
on the boy sitting next to her, ogling her time to time. If her accomplice is a
guy with good looks and attitude then the stats change dramatically. Any ray of
hope that the touching “eternal love” theme of the film, of which we have been
a joint (read couple) witness, would have aroused would be instantly doused.
Anyways,
the film has ended, as always on a happy note. Both of us leave the hall. As
soon as we get out of the building, reality strikes me. She goes to the parking
lot with her family. I have to wait for an auto. It is a June Sunday noon,
temperature around 45 degrees. No auto in sight. About 10 minutes after she
passed by me in her Honda Accord. This time she has got 100% concentration on
her mobile. No auto yet. Few buses ply on that route. Think will have to make a
break journey on bus.
By
the way, how many of us have witnessed eternal love? Perhaps none, or none to
my knowledge. We all feel that love is eternal only while we are in a
relationship and only for that relationship. Once out of a relationship, we
move on, get a new person and again fall in a love bond that, perhaps, is
second or third time eternal. So what is eternity in love if we can forget so
easily and move on? Why do we keep buying these bluffs from the filmmakers?
They have completely romanticized the idea of love, saying true love can happen with only one person and it will linger on for a life time, and this idea is impossible in today’s world. Yet we are just too happy buying all these stuffs from the movie makers.
In
the earlier days, marriages used to happen very early in life and divorce would
have been as impossible as the word itself in Hitler’s dictionary. And of
course one intelligent person should have loved the person with whom he had to
spend the whole life. Even now the people who are married will vehemently
oppose my idea that love is not eternal but ephemeral because they are bound to
love a person for their whole life. But before the marriage who knows how many
eternal loves they have witnessed. If Indian society had been so open to
divorce as the western society, then there would have been little cry on ‘eternity’
of love. Perhaps that is why Hollywood makes such successful movies on a
variety of topics, while as in India most successful movies hover around the
idea of love or even if it is not centered on the theme of love there must be an
element in it.
On
the other hand, there is one more hypocritical ideology in the country – love
is not based on physical attribute, but on the beauty of heart. My dear
friends, if all you see is beauty of heart and no physical discrimination then
what is the problem in a man loving a man with a beautiful heart or a woman
loving a woman with a beautiful heart? What perturbs you with such a
relationship? Or maybe you should say that love seeks a beautiful heart but
only in opposite sex.
Now
you may believe that I am raising a voice for the people who do not have
straight sexual orientation for I myself would be a gay. There can be nothing
further from reality. I was in a relationship with, seemingly, the most
beautiful girl in the world. She moved on, never imagined so, and I am alive
while as I could not have imagined my life without her.
All
of you and the film industry should stop the farce romanticizing love. It’s a
feeling just like any other. It starts with attraction, there is desire for
physical proximity and is not eternal, unless you are bound. It happens once,
it can also happen twice, thrice or as many times as you can count. We keep looking for a person whom we can confide with all our secrets, share our joy and griefs, get intimate, enjoy life and forget our ex. As soon as we get that person we fall into another episode of eternal love.
