"Love"

The latest episode of Satyamev Jayate  got me thinking about the basic definition of love. What provokes a couple to elope? Is it really love or is it simply a desire to spend the rest of their life together?

Everybody in the episode was quoting Ghalib "Ishq kiya nahi jaata, ho jata hain".  I completely agree but I wish I had a chance to ask them just one question: "Ishq ka anjaam shaadi hi ho, yeh kis ghalib ne kaha hai"

Is it not possible to love someone, not spend the rest of your life with them and still be happy? Does love really need physical presence? If out-of-sight is out-of-mind is it true love?

And then come hurling more questions! Is it impossible to love two people at the same time? Would it be wrong if you loved your spouse and also loved another person? We love our parents, our siblings, our friends and many others who play an important part in our life. I concede that the love we feel for our spouse is not the same kind of love that we have for everyone, but each one of them holds a special place in our heart. Similarly, can you not hold a special place in your heart for just one more person?

Hurting the people who cared for us and loved us for atleast 25 years, risking ones life and running away...is this what love really warrants?


P.S. A few thoughts by Paulo Coelho on the same subject http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2012/06/05/the-accommodating-point-2/

What it really takes!

Lovers believe its the final stage
People say its the union of two humans
Elders tell me its the joining of two families
But why doesnt anybody say there is more than that!

Why dont they say there's a promise
To love the other more than yourself
Why dont they tell me there's a commitment
To live with each other through thick and thin

Why dont they say there's a need
To care and share, to give more than you get
Why dont they tell me there's a responsibility
To pass on traditions and values to the generation next

O! Why dont they tell me its a new beginning
That "my" past is erased and filled with "ours"
That "our" future becomes "my" future
And That "I' become non-existent, there's only "we"

Why dont they say that marriage is
Not the final but the very first stage
Not the union of two families but the union of many lives
Not the union of two humans but the union of two souls

Why dont they tell me that
Its a painful blessing from the heart
That I wont know what it really takes
Until "death do us apart"!