Today, is what they call the Valentine’s Day. Theoretically speaking, the origin of Valentine’s Day with that of love itself is somewhat obscure. Going by the theory of it we would perhaps end up with a long list of stories. Here’s one- Legend has it that a third-century priest named Valentine persisted in performing marriage ceremonies despite a ban by the Roman emperor, Claudius II. Claudius was persuaded, that single men made better soldiers for his army and ergo the ban. Thrown into jail, Valentine formed a relationship with his jailor's daughter (some say he cured her blindness) and signed his last message to her "From your Valentine." St. Valentine was executed on February 14, circa the year 270 and thus the connotation, with the date in question.
Today on the 14th day of February, 2010 I am sitting at one of the busiest airports in the country, about to travel from one of the busiest cities to another one, of similar kind. And looking around I happened to see the re-run of a movie called ‘A Lot Like Love’ on one of the movie channels. Strangely, the title struck a chord in my head and made me muse about love, life and relationships. Now here’s a quote from the bible which might act as food for thought.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
-I Corinthians 13:4-8
I live in one of the busiest cities in the country and the truth is that when I look around I see a lot of people these days in and out of love both juxtaposed, metaphorically. Worst of all, there are some ones amongst us who haven’t even been in love for a while now. We come across people day in day out talking about marriage with respect to financial viability, social stability and a hell of a lot other things besides love. I once remember meeting someone who actually said that she can’t really marry for love as she essentially has to have other more important things in better proportion: like money, stability and god alone knows what all. I, for one, have practically forgotten what it is like to be in love. Considering the sojourn’s been away from me, for a while now.
The fact is that we see a lot of people vouching for fancy-free these days than for loving someone. Every passing day more and more of us now say that being single is so much more better and hassle free, and that the perks of being with a partner are really not worth the troubles attached with it.
So is it actually true that being single, now, is better than being with someone?
I don’t really know if that’s the truth of today’s world; but I think I do know another truth that despite all this, we the single ones, still go to bed each and every day hoping- some subconsciously and some consciously- to wake up the next morning only to see a new day…. And that perhaps this would be the day when we would meet someone who would sweep us across our feet with their simple smile and their majestic charm.
This one here, is for all the single ones out there…
After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.
-Mark Twain, Extracts from Adam's Diary
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
The New Year: 2010
The traverse from the antecedent year to the current one, I must say, happened on an extremely merry note: marked by transcendental debauchery and absolute dissipation. The merry making continued till the wee hours of the morning and the retirement coming in at aurora, pretty much sums up the revelry we indulged in. Also the fact that a dear friend besotted and incoherent with the ‘licor o bebida alcohólica de alta graduación’ or rather simply put the hard liquor, waking up the next morning wrapped around a coyote ugly, recoiled in such horror that it took almost the entire next day for us to stop laughing and to move the conversation over to some other direction. So, all in all we had a fairly successful binge followed by a nice and pleasant, but at the same time an unceremonious day.
Digressing from the consummation and moving on to the start of the previous year I certainly feel, in retrospect and vestige of things, that I had a bummer of a year. In fact to put it all in a nutshell I’d like to quote a phrase from the Bible [Isaiah 14:12] “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground!” And that’s exactly what happened to me!
Things last year so unfolded that at a point in time I felt as if I had been yanked down from my upwardly flight and put to the ground. I had entered this city around a couple of years back with a momentously grave situation in hand, which last year became even graver. I felt that I was certainly tested to the utmost level and had to use my entire energy to not lose my focus, which as a matter of fact left me listlessly sapped and completely debilitated towards the end. Rising from the ashes of an already testing scenario I, almost towards the end of the year, fortunately or not so fortunately got into another which in no way was less than the previous, if not more.
Things- though not completely over- seem to have simmered down a fair bit now but the acrid taste from the bitter experiences still remains. I hope the coming year with its good start will unfold a much better experience for me as well as all my compatriots and I hope that it will certainly be a new beginning towards life and love as well as friendship and happiness, for one and all.
Digressing from the consummation and moving on to the start of the previous year I certainly feel, in retrospect and vestige of things, that I had a bummer of a year. In fact to put it all in a nutshell I’d like to quote a phrase from the Bible [Isaiah 14:12] “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground!” And that’s exactly what happened to me!
Things last year so unfolded that at a point in time I felt as if I had been yanked down from my upwardly flight and put to the ground. I had entered this city around a couple of years back with a momentously grave situation in hand, which last year became even graver. I felt that I was certainly tested to the utmost level and had to use my entire energy to not lose my focus, which as a matter of fact left me listlessly sapped and completely debilitated towards the end. Rising from the ashes of an already testing scenario I, almost towards the end of the year, fortunately or not so fortunately got into another which in no way was less than the previous, if not more.
Things- though not completely over- seem to have simmered down a fair bit now but the acrid taste from the bitter experiences still remains. I hope the coming year with its good start will unfold a much better experience for me as well as all my compatriots and I hope that it will certainly be a new beginning towards life and love as well as friendship and happiness, for one and all.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Of world and worldly affairs
A close friend of mine died some time ago of cancer. The night I heard the news of his death I thought about a lot of things and about all those times that we spent together. It was as if all of it kept flashing in front of my eyes, especially the part when he told me about this girl that he had met nearly a year back and about his aspirations to tie the knot of maternal bliss with her and furthermore about his flourishing career. He envisaged the happiness to come in his life in near future and painted a beautiful picture of life, love, health and happiness. It was like a canvass full of bright and exuberant colours that takes a serene and a tranquil mind to create; a portrait portraying a perfect life set in a perfect background. Except that the shades used eventually turned out to be darker, than what the artist actually wanted to portray.
In the span of an years time his entire aspirations turned to dust with nothing remaining, apart from mere memories and a sense of loss. When I met him a year ago, he seemed to me like a man of purpose working towards a lot of fine things in life. Things like a budding career, a sound financial situation and a respectable social status. I met him again a few months back when he was undergoing treatment for his ailments and he yet again came across as a man of purpose. The purpose though this time seemed to be entirely different as compared to the previous occasion. This time round the purpose was to just try and live some more beyond the minimal window that one has in grave medical conditions like these.
It thus occurred to me how ones priorities and outlook towards life changes when one is about to traverse from the final destination towards the dissolution. The fact that we waste our time and our lives over things that are simply incandescent is something which is worth observing. Why is it that most of us realize the importance of our short-lived life mostly at the end of it or otherwise at the precipice. What thus results is just a sense of deep loss and longing to perhaps take another shot at what that is already lost.
I have never feared living like a common man but have always feared dying like one. So what is it that I want to see as a remnant and a vestige of my life, at the end of it all?.... It should be like perched on top of a mountain, looking at the crimson sun setting on the western horizon- The end to a beautiful and bright day full of essentials like a green earth, a whispering evening-wind with music in the trees and the song of the birds. So that the last thing that I say before I die would be “I’m looking at an incredible view right now”.
In the span of an years time his entire aspirations turned to dust with nothing remaining, apart from mere memories and a sense of loss. When I met him a year ago, he seemed to me like a man of purpose working towards a lot of fine things in life. Things like a budding career, a sound financial situation and a respectable social status. I met him again a few months back when he was undergoing treatment for his ailments and he yet again came across as a man of purpose. The purpose though this time seemed to be entirely different as compared to the previous occasion. This time round the purpose was to just try and live some more beyond the minimal window that one has in grave medical conditions like these.
It thus occurred to me how ones priorities and outlook towards life changes when one is about to traverse from the final destination towards the dissolution. The fact that we waste our time and our lives over things that are simply incandescent is something which is worth observing. Why is it that most of us realize the importance of our short-lived life mostly at the end of it or otherwise at the precipice. What thus results is just a sense of deep loss and longing to perhaps take another shot at what that is already lost.
I have never feared living like a common man but have always feared dying like one. So what is it that I want to see as a remnant and a vestige of my life, at the end of it all?.... It should be like perched on top of a mountain, looking at the crimson sun setting on the western horizon- The end to a beautiful and bright day full of essentials like a green earth, a whispering evening-wind with music in the trees and the song of the birds. So that the last thing that I say before I die would be “I’m looking at an incredible view right now”.
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