The Politics of Love

I am dealing with three separate cases of my near and dear ones who are trying to cope up with the repercussions of their broken heart and home, reason being ostensibly love, pyar wala love, calf love, mature wala love as well.

One of the most basic instincts, love, has triggered epoch-making events and turned the course of history. It is way beyond what biology textbooks would like us to believe and hence nothing surprising if right wing nationalists have seized it as a weapon to wield power over the masses and have forced its own version of “what love should constitute” and strived tirelessly to determine how it can be indianised and expressed. Ends and employing means to achieve them, both have found little resonance with today’s youth except few indoctrinated ones. Reassuring as it may sound, the recent dictat of VHP have met few takers. Few state actors have tried to provide their backing and announced Valentine Day as Matru Pitru Diwas (Parents Day).

At times, I wonder why there is so much public outcry, real or staged, over such a tender and intimate feeling. Is not the path of love is already so complex that these bloody fellows are hellbent to make it more so by their stupid ways and turning it more meandering and narrower, So narrow that not even being one lets u pass through the highway of love and thereby proving proposition of Kabir false:

प्रेम गली अति संकरी, तामें दाऊ न समाई |

जब में था तब हरी नहीं, अब हरी है में नाहीं ||

(The street of love is very narrow, two can’t pass through it at the same time

When I was, there was no God(hari), now there is God but I am not)

Giving every incident a stupid religious undertone has assumed ridiculous proportions. “Love Jihad” is a case in point. As far as I know, this so called love jihad has enabled some of the most beautiful love stories I know. People involved have braved all odds and overcame all obstacles and finally emerged lover in the true sense. One glance at them to make any heart melt, one tale of theirs is sure to change any heart. They are no less than our own legendery Laila Majnu and Romeo Juliet. Only pairing is novel: like Laila Romeo and Majnu Juliet.

Let love find its own path, grant it its innate fluidity, make society break manmade artificial barriers and embrace love in its myriad forms: be it between different religions or castes or between same sex, be it between rich or poor and be it between people of different colours!

The one who are so opposed to the idea of love are themselves not immune to it. Cupid (ok ji kaamdev) must have struck them some time somewhere someway too. Is it Freudian repressed suppressed feelings that are rearing  ugly head in the form of meaningless protests and violence!

Commercialization in its crudest form has gripped not only the concept of love but many other joys of life. So for that reason only, should we stop loving and expressing. Should we stop buying cards because its origin is foreign and company is American! Choose not to buy them if you don’t wish so but why to stop those couples exchanging such cards with a sweet little peck if they believe this is how love is expressed!

In a time where bonds of romance is being often smashed by money and power and nihilists are appearing to be winning the fight of life, there is more the need to reinforce feeling of love among ourselves.

So when the day of valentine is coming to a close, it seems nothing untoward has happened as such but their nefarious designs have succeeded nevertheless, design of engaging public discourse and claiming space more than they deserve. Would they care to help my near and dear ones overcome their lovelorn heart or will they keep causing more such cases, choice is theirs.

If love is so liberating, why try to shackle and limit it! On this Valentine Day, let us express our love to everyone who is opposed to the idea and way of love. Just I wish they try to change themselves a bit, be a bit more tolerant and accommodative.