To Love…

I watched “Letters to Juliet” tonight. I wouldn’t say that it was the greatest romantic movie ever made; but it was special. It’s about a woman finding her true love, her soul mate after 50 years. And then I got thinking about this whole mystical idea called “True Love”. What is it? Does it exist? Have I experienced it or will I experience it? Did someone like Romeo and Juliet actually exist? If they did, how did they feel? How did they manage to love each other so passionately?

You know the whole concept of love thanks to movies like these or romantic stories and books has become a complete mystery. If we were to believe science, then a man and a woman meet or see each other. Their brain does some sort of calculations based on their body symmetry and their smell, and decides that they can have a healthy off spring. That’s what starts the chain reaction of hormones that makes us feel woozy all over and the two people get together to successfully produce a healthy off spring. Now that kills the mystery of love doesn’t it. But seriously, how do we fall in love?

Is this just a concept people fancy and write about or make movies about or something so strong and so passionate truly exists that makes people do crazy things? People die for love, they cross oceans for love; they betray their families for love. So what is Love, is it just the desire to produce a healthy off spring? Or there is more to it. What and who is our soul mate? Where do they come from and how does one get to know if they’ve found them?

You know when I actually think of true love, I always remember my grandparents. They didn’t have a Romeo Juliet romance, theirs was an arranged marriage. My grandmother was about 17 or 18 and my grandfather was about 24 I guess. Their fathers had decided who they would spend the rest of their lives with and guess what they found their soul mates in each other. I have never seen any couple more romantic than them. They did of course have their fair share of fights, arguments and disagreements, yet in spite of all these they were hopelessly in love. So passionately and hopelessly and deeply and mindlessly in love that even death couldn’t keep them apart for long. They shared a beautiful life together for 60 years, something that seems unimaginable to me. Sixty years is a bloody long time. And not even for a moment they left each other’s sight. It was like even if they were not physically together they still were.

It was awesome to see them together. And listen to them softly talking to each other sitting at the terrace watching birds fly, or just sitting together while he read the news paper and she lovingly looked at him. Her eyes would be filled with so much warmth whenever she looked at him. And he would never miss an opportunity to tell her how beautiful she was and how much he loved her. He would just rest his head on her lap if he was stressed and she would gently run her fingers through his hair. Sometimes they would just sit together silently holding hands. I guess they were at a stage where words didn’t matter.

The day he died, we all knew she was devastated. But even in that moment she kept running her fingers through his hair like she always did, looking at him with just love in her eyes. A look that said I’ll be with you soon. After he was gone, even though she was completely calm on the outside, her eyes were always looking for him. She died within six months.

I guess that’s what soul mates are and that’s true love.

Wrote this one a long time back...was lost in my folders... 1/12/2010