Love that we think we deserve

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. These are the words of Dr.Seuss. As I sat on the rocks close to the jetty and looked out at the vast ocean ahead of me, I kept pondering on this little thing called Love. And streams of questions began to flow into my mind. Is love all about hope or is it about hoping against hope? Is love for the fools or the wise ones? Does love take any giving or taking? When does one really comprehend the meaning of love?At what stage of life? And I turn around to my friends who are busy talking to each other or just singing songs down by the beach and I drift off in that sweet melody to another world...Here are the musings of a 19 year old girl who contemplates life very often (not really).

To begin with, I interpreted the quote by Dr. Seuss as the love you have for something that you immensely crave doing for the sole reason that it brings a smile upon your face and the thrill in your heart. You do it for the sheer love of it and derive pleasure out of it. Not because you want any monetary gain out of it or because of some sort of compulsion. This love is that what we see when one Roger Federer comes out onto the grass court holding that tennis racquet in his hands or one Sachin Tendulkar holding a cricket bat and gently raising it to the spectators when he hits a century. No I am not talking about fan adoration here. I am talking about the love any sports-person has for his game. It is his or her love for the game that makes them pursue it with full determination and commitment. If you are searching for any inspiration, I think the first source would be any sports personality. They have this never-back-down attitude that draws people to them.Their perseverance is truly motivating

I asked a couple of my friends to pen down their thoughts when one says the word Love and I'd like to share some of their snippets.

Shawn Kenneth Fernandes 

 Picture credits: Allen Vishal

You don’t love someone because they’re perfect or beautiful or confident,

You love someone in spite of the fact that they’re not.  

Embracing the pain and darkness in the other person.

Seeing how their flaws complete you.

If you ever have to change yourself for someone,

If you give up a part of yourself to be with someone,

You may lose the part that the other person fell in love with.

That would be a tragedy.

Never trust someone who says they love you but treat you ordinarily.

Everyone is extraordinary. Everyone is amazing.

Everyone has beauty. 

You just need to look for it. 

And if you see it in someone where others can’t,

Know that you are capable of loving.

My friend here has aptly talked about seeing how other's flaws complete you. Embracing one person for who they are is what nurture's true love. You loved someone for precisely the way they were, accepted all their flaws because that is what you loved about them in the first place. And as Shawn here says it would indeed be a tragedy if the other person tries to mould themselves into something they are not and eventually have a fallout.

For him, music is life. A means to express his inner demons and musings about life.An outlet. For him music is about sincerity. Through music he tries to perceive other people, what goes on in their minds et al and derives immense happiness when any kind of sincere music soothes him.

Sometimes when you go through ups and downs of life and you feel all alone and you hope somewhere inside, that someone would hear you out and listen to what you have to say. He does it very sincerely, lending you a ear. His love for music has made him very insightful.

Love.

Susan Pinto

Love

Some say it's good,

others say it's bad.

Some say it's forever,

others say it'll never last.

Some say it happens once,

but others have experienced twice.

Some say its beautiful,

others say: not so very nice.

I say it's worthwhile,

you will laugh and you will cry,

but you will never understand it,

unless you give it a try.

Susan, the most compassionate person I have ever come across till now. I admire her hope in love. In spite of falling down every time she manages to bounce back very quickly and put on a brave face. She is the hopeful one.

I remember reading an article not so long ago, something on the lines of being vulnerable and open to love by Vinita Nangia. She says that to love is to be vulnerable, to leave yourself open to hurt. Breene Brown says, what makes you vulnerable makes you beautiful. 

Opening up to love, I think exposes your vulnerability and hence allows others to see your inner beauty. As I said earlier, when someone embraces this beauty(flaws for some), it sparks love among them.

But, when you are at your most vulnerable and you have allowed this other person to let your guard down, and then left to hurt, you are left wondering if it was worth it in the end? I am of the opinion that if you have been left heartbroken, then there was nothing called love in the first place. You just took a wayward path. Some may be stronger and come to the end of the path with a bright smile, while some may just crumble along the way and never make it out.

So I leave that question to you...whether opening up is really worth it or not...

 Chetan Pangavane

I dont want to be the Snape of the Lily. Nor do I want a Snape if you are my Lily. I dont know if my love is all about possessiveness. But surely this feeling has sufficient genuineness. Maybe I love you just because I dont have you.But I do take pride in loving someone like you.

I know you already have someone in your heart. But you and only you can govern my heart.

I know this sudden awareness must be startling, but I have already done two years of waiting. Now I feel I've overdone everything . It's time to cease it all. 

Because, I guess love too has its limits and I am no great to cross them all.

Pray, be happy with your love, and me with mine,

and maybe you'll never know, 

and maybe I'll never say!

He reverberates my thoughts precisely. Unknown and unspoken love is the most hurtful. For those of you who live under a rock, Snape and Lily are characters from Harry Potter and the reference here to love has been put in the correct way. How painful it must be to love someone without telling them that?You wouldn't even know if the other person feels the same way. Misery. But if you see it in a different light, it is beautiful. It is beautiful how you will do anything in your power just to see the other person  smile.It is beautiful how you will try and try to get those words out yet fail.

Younita Pandey

Its when I was lying on the grass, acting like I was drunk. missing my best friends, who would come down 

the table to talk me out of my nonsense.

cry for me, when my heart would break, and wash my bleeding knees, when I fell hard.

*sigh.

they even tied my shoe laces in the twelfth standard.

and I was missing them.

I miss them.

but that evening when I lay acting like I was drunk, singing all the sad songs, being blue about everything, and you held my hand and said "I wont leave you"

I wanted to cry. but couldn't bring myself to it.

after all, who were you to hold my hand?

who were you?

damn! now I know, it wasn't you,

it was me who held your hand.

and you? you promised to keep it.

hold it back so I wont fall.hold it back so I could walk blindfold. 

hold me, until I could walk.

I know what this is. 

Its love in its purest form.

true concern in its sincerity.

care, without expectations.

unconditional, unselfish, love.

this was when I realized, friendship: it is.

friend, he was.  

Friend. That word has an altogether different meaning. But does it? Friends never hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are.

Mother. When she hears the cries of her baby in that maternity room for the first time, she falls in love for the second time in her life. As Abdul Kalam said, your birthday is the only day in your life where your mother smiled when you cried.

Parents love is unconditional. It means no bounds. And the best thing about it is, no one says I love you or something cliché . It is just inborn. It is expressed in such subtly beautiful ways. When your mother oils and braids your hair before sending you off to school, or when you cut yourself while playing, over all the yelling, she would be the one to apply the antiseptic to your wound, or how she would make you sit in front of the idol and recite all the prayers.

She will love you and protect you no matter what mistakes you do in life. And if you are fortunate enough, at any stage of your life,you can always cry on her lap, while she gently strokes your hair and soothes you...

Love should generate faith. Trust. Honesty. Sincerity. Love should be unconditional...