Defining love..

We are living in a very cynical world. Everybody is hurt, everybody has been used and abused. People have given up on the goodness of other people and love is just an illusion that disappears as soon as you come near it.

So essentially we are a society of chasers, we like to chase what seems hard to get and as soon as we get them, we secretly celebrate the conquest, take a pit-stop to refuel and move on to the next one.

This is also a world where we question the very institution called marriage. An institution that everyone in our generation wants to be a part of but as soon as they enroll, they immediately want a refund.

This is a world where we get bored easily because we have so many options, so many temptations, so little regard for morals and ethics, loyalty is a myth, lust is the truth, eternity can be sought in the present.

The idea of marriage is more and more resembling a good business plan with very clear exit strategies. Marriage has just become a business deal and love it seems is not the unit of transaction.

Gone are the days when boy tells girl, "I love you" and the girl would just believe and they would end up getting married and having a family.

This is an age where the girl would ask, "Why do you love me?" ,"What made you fall in love with me?", "Since when have you been experiencing these feelings for me?", "Are you sure you are in love with me or is it just a passing fancy because you have no other options?"or better still "Do you believe in pre-nups?" Its almost as if love was a terrible infectious disease that needed to be kept in check instead of celebrated..

So when I was asked to describe my symptoms of heartache recently I did not know how to answer..because how does one describe a symptom as abstract as love? Love might be overrated but lets face it the whole world is driven by love or the lack of it. Love is the only thing that can make a sane person go insane and an insane person seem charming. Love is like yellow light, makes even drab things look good. Love is the kind of thing that makes a mathematician write poetry and a poet read the Financial Times.

I really do not know how to describe love in todays context because we are living in a different world. Love is very big word but it is also a very short one. Its the way you look at it.

All I can come up with is love is sticky like glue that can make two very different people stick together inspite of all their differences. Love makes you take that leap of faith even if you are shit scared of falling in the pits of heartbreak without a safety net.

Love is the glue that keeps you together even if the world outside your window has lost their minds, love finds a way to reach out to someone who has hidden himself in the darkest caves of pain, anguish and loneliness.

Even if you are from different worlds, even if you agree to disagree on most things, even if you don't see that person for years, love makes you want to change your form seamlessly for that other person, even as years go by and you are not the hunk you used to be or she is not the gorgeous girl that stopped you in your tracks, you still want to wake with this person, argue about who hogged the sheets, toss a coin to find out who makes breakfast for whom and get through the day thinking "What would I do without you?"