Love
It's been a little too long, I know. I didn't just disappear. I didn't stop writing. I just didn't post. Hoping I am not forgotten?
August 29, 2025. Friday.
Pune, India.
What does it
look like? What does it sound like? More importantly what does it feel like? Love…
Romantic? Platonic? Friendship? Parents and children? Siblings? A person? An
idol? Or maybe things and places. Is it joy or is it pain? Or is it a bit of
both?
Grounding of coffee beans? Brewing of hot tea? Cookies and pastries?
Mysterious thing – love. All the philosophers, authors, poets and even scientists in history have tried to decode it. They have tried answering the question subjectively and objectively and yet everyone has come up with a different definition, all of them correct and yet unable to answer the question.
Rustling of leaves? Cool breeze? The quiet flow of a river?
American Psychological Association defines it as ‘a complex emotion involving strong feelings of affection and tenderness for the love object, pleasurable sensations in their presence, devotion to their well-being, and sensitivity to their reactions to oneself.’ Philosopher, Baier (1991) defines love as ‘not just an emotion people feel toward other people, but also a complex tying together of the emotions that two or a few more people have; it is a special form of emotional interdependence.’ The sacred Baghavad Geeta places love further on a pedestal, ‘Love is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth at the heart of creation.’ Shakespeare writes in his sonnets,
‘Love is not
love
Which alters
when it alteration finds,
Or bends with
the remover to remove:
O no! it is an
ever-fixed mark
That looks on
tempests and is never shaken.’
Smell of old books? Ticking of a watch? Dew drops on grass?
Maybe we are all wrong for we seek a definition of love. We seek to know what it is meant to feel like but perhaps we all know what love feels like already, from our own experiences. From things and places around us … things that feel our own and places that make you feel like home. From people with whom we have shared our happiest days and the saddest of times, maybe from afar, maybe in imagination, maybe in our dreams. From those that we met on the streets, travelling on buses and in trains, in those little acts of kindness.
Intertwined fingers? A bone-crushing hug? A hand ruffling your hair?
To me it looks like reading, writing, books. To me it sounds like scratching of a fountain pen on paper, pitter patter of the rain on the window pane, and crashing of waves by the ocean. To me it feels like distance, unsaid words and longing. For me love resides in buildings, homes and libraries... In the bustling streets of a city and the quiet night of villages. At times it even sounds like pressing of the keys on a keyboard, piano and violin playing the background, the music wafting through the silence of the night.
Respect? Trust? Home?
Self Love?
Happiness.
What is love to you?
Love,
Srishti M Jain.
It’s not just four characters it’s whole world is formed inside that one word which we usually called LOVE. We can have many different meanings for this yet so special for all of us
ReplyDeleteVery well written ! Something that surrounds all of us every day, yet takes so many different forms - from family bonds to friendships, romance, and even the quiet platonic connections we share. You’ve beautifully captured the essence of love in all its shades, both emotional and practical. A thoughtful and heartwarming read!
ReplyDeleteLove is the silent promise that binds us, an eternal flame that warms even the coldest nights. It weaves dreams into reality, painting life with hues of passion and serenity. Loved reading about love.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful way to put and summarise what I just read, love is subjective. I would have to borrow words from Auden, who said it will a fool's pride if he says he can define love..love is not only subjective, but variable as well. After all it's chemicals in the .ind., it is not away from the rules of chemistry. They bond in a different way with othe r chemicals. Like people are different for different people. Sometimes it's a look, sometimes it's silence, sometime a touch and sometimes words of comfort and sometimes many other things.
ReplyDeleteBut if I were to love into identifiable clothes. I would say, it's feelings that you have you surrounded when you loved one is not there by your side. It's is the missing what love is. It is in those years which beg you to go through the moment again and again.