Those Four Defining Letters of Life

Love is Life, it is said. With Valentines Day just around the corner, it is the time of the year which always makes me ponder over the single greatest word in the English dictionary. Love. So what is it? Well, love has many definitions so to speak! Most of us are lucky enough to get love from parents, love from siblings, love from friends, love from family, love from teachers, even love from enemies (why, don't they just love to hate you? :D). But there is one special kind of love that we all crave for. Love from that special individual, that special human being who just makes you melt down quicker than a chocolate ice-cream on the surface of the Sun when you look at her. A person who makes you feel so good about yourself that you cannot possibly feel better. A person who stands by you through thick and thin, who makes you smile on your worst days, who loves you so much that you could do absolutely anything for her! As cliched as that might have sounded, I cant think of anyone who could disagree with what I mentioned above.

So I keep asking myself this question. As great as it sounds, is it possible to have someone like that in your life? Most certainly, says my ever deluded heart. But how possible is it? Well, experience tells me the chances of it happening are as good as those of Sp*rs beating Arsenal, or Rubens Barrichelo winning the F1 world championship someday, or the Shiv Sainiks adopting a stance of non-violence. If you still don't get me, well, the chances are basically close to nil. Why? Well, because more often than not, life ain't a stage for your dreams to unfold. This is reality. How many times have we been inspired and our minds gone into overdrive at the very thought of a romantic liaison after watching a great romantic Bollywood movie, full of those actor-and-actress-in-the-woods-with-dupattas-flying-all-over-the-place songs, and those earth-shattering scenes where the hero beats the odds to marry/run-away with the girl of his dreams by fighting the bad guys till the very last ounce of blood pours out of his wounds? I don't know about you, but it pumps me up like hell. The following morning is the worst though, because the effect wears down and you see the real picture. You realize how disgustingly deluded you are, and how flawed your mind is if it ever believes that something so dramatic can happen with you in real life. Forget those songs, or even those epic battles, so lame, yet so wonderfully effective that they make you feel like you're the protagonist of the movie. Even in normal life, can one be lucky enough to be with the girl of his dreams? It can happen. Of course it can. But we live in a world of probabilities and not certanties, if you know what I mean.

So why are most of us so pessimistic when it comes to love? Ever wondered why it is so difficult to actually tell that special someone you like her? There are a gazillion reasons that atleast I can think of. That person maybe the exact opposite of you in almost everything! "Poles apart", as they say!! The most significant reason may even be the fact that you're not good enough for that person, be it in terms of looks, personality, or well, you're just not good enough! Which brings me to another question. Why, inspite of being aware of all this, do we still fall in love with such people? Its just habitual. You know she's too good for you, but you still cling on to every last bit of hope you have to be with that person. Its ridiculous. Its like knowing there's a big pit in front of you, but you still jump into it with gusto! You know what I think that is? That is the very definition of true love. You damn well know its never going to happen, not even in the wildest of your dreams or imaginations. You reach a point where you almost give up. But then you think of her just once more, and all those thoughts evaporate and then you start afresh. This is like one of those nasty infinite loops which never end! Sadly, a lot of people don't give it much thought, because if they truly did, atleast 80% of the times this exact same scenario would not result in heart-break! You know why? Because true love exceeds any other factor, any other criteria for two people to fall in love. That is the beauty of it! We live in a world where true love is merely considered a fantasy. We all dream about it, and reach the conclusion that it is just a theoretical phenomenon and hardly ever occurs practically. But either you realize it too late or don't realize it at all, sometimes, this "true love" comes knocking at your very doorstep. But for whatever reasons, some valid, some maybe not, you let it go. This is increasingly becoming a platitude of sorts, which in my honest opinion, is very very disheartening to know.

But does this mean we let "true love" be a victim?? Of course not!! In fact, whether you succeed with it or not, true love is one of the most beautiful things on the planet, and quite frankly, not everyone experiences it. You must be privileged to have fallen in love with someone, whether or not he/she says yes, because at the end of the day, the feeling that you love someone more than anything on this planet is greater than any other damned feeling!! Most of us aren't lucky in love, but even fewer are lucky to have fallen in love, and there is a fine line between the two of them.

In my opinion, I think no one should think about the ramifications of falling in love with a person who you know isn't going to fall for you, because when you do that, you lose courage and hope in equal measure, and the fact that most of us still continue to love the other person no-holds barred, we need every little bit of courage and hope if we're going to be able to do that till the very end! Yes, it may not be worth it eventually. But its not about whether it is worth it or not. Its about the entire journey. From start, to finish. The experience itself is satiating enough.

So here I am, a hopeless romantic asking you hopeless romantics to never give up. I'm a hypocrite of sorts, but when it comes to this topic, the hypocrisy goes for a toss. This is something I truly believe in, and thats why, on the eve of Valentines Day, I urge all of you to continue loving that special someone you might have, regardless of whether it will work out in the end or not. You know why? Because it is bloody well worth it!!

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.