LOVE

What love is, we all know. But is it something we all express? If not, I think it's probably because you don't know what it is. Befuddled, or just think I'm crazy? Then open up a dictionary and look up love. You'll find a bunch of definitions like:
Main Entry: 1love

Pronunciation: 'l&v

Function: nounEtymology: Middle English, from Old English lufu; akin to Old High German luba love, Old

English lEof dear, Latin lubEre, libEre to please

1 a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties

2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion

3 a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration

4 : a score of zero

and lots of similar ones. But do any of these 'definitions' (esp the 4th one!:D) do justice to that wonderful feeling? Obviously, NO! For it is the one feeling which keeps you up all night smiling, which makes you spend the whole day dreaming, and it's THE ONLY feeling which makes you feel you've finally got what you've wanted all your life.

Just think- why do we talk about love so much? Simple. Because it's undoubtedly ubiquitous. Look around you, look inside you- you'll find love- for there's someone or at least something that everyone loves. There's love in mom's food, there's love in a friend's teasing, there's love in a lover's gift, there's love in a sibling's hug, you see love when you see the couple who're holding hands, etc (and of course there's love in ALL Bollywood movies!:D). All said and done, love is still a word which's usage is severely restricted. Don't agree? Read on and maybe you'll get my point.

It's very disheartening to see the usage of this wondeful word, used in a very narrow sense nowadays. SO narrow, that you'll probably have to think a hundred times before saying "I love spending time with you" even to a close friend. Hmmm, Imagine this. Your friend right from your childhood days is leaving abroad(And just to make you ppl imagine properly, he/she is of the opposite sex, u lucky @$$- thanks to Me and my BROAD-mind!:D). You don't know if you're going to meet him/her again in the near future. You're seeing him/her off at the airport. Would you be comfortable saying "I Love you a lot, take care", or would you rather say "Take care, I'll miss you a lot"? At least 90% of the people I know would use the latter, rather than the former. And why is that- is this just another friend you like? No, this is a friend who's been with you a long time, and hence, you more than 'JUST LIKE' her (I've had enough of using 'him/her'). But would you say you love him or love her? I guess that again about 90% of you would say NO.

Well, that's how restricted the usage of the word's become. Don't you realise that it's the 'love-for-you' that makes your Mom ever-concerned? It's this same love that you give your Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Brother-In-Law, Niece, Nephew, cousin, uncle, aunty, spouse, etc(:D), and it's what you get in return too. Love always follows give and take- "you get what you give". So why is it any different when it comes to your friends? Couldn't it be that you love them too like your brothers and sisters? Or couldn't it be that you just love them, but not in the way a narrow-minded society sees love? I believe that the answer is yes. You could love anyone like your family, though they may not one of your them(YET!;)). If you agree with me on this, I'd say that you love your friend who flew abroad- a paragragraph back! :)

So what is it that makes things so restricted? Its simply the society we're in- the chain we're all links of. A link can't move the way it wants. It's movement is restricted by the links next to it, which in turn has it's movements restricted by the ones next to it and so on. But that doesn't mean that if most of the links twist one way, the rest of them don't. Twist it properly and the whole chain twists. Hope you get the allegory. (I'm sure most of you know this, but I still want to mention that the reason why Philadelphia is named so is because it literally means 'City of Brotherly Love'. At least they're concerned about brotherly/sisterly love, though we don't seem to be!).

So what am I getting at? Well, do you remember the times when your Dad used to hold your hand when crossing the road? Do you remember the times when the first thing you did after coming from school was give your Mom a big hug and a kiss? Now THAT is pure, unadulterated love. Do you still do that now? Do you hold your Dad's hand when you're crossing the road now? Do you remember your Mom when you notice her favourite show on T.V and call her up and talk? NO?! So where IS all that love now? You can never kill love- which means it's just inside you, all bound up and gagged. You don't let it out, you just keep it inside. And why would that be? Is it the discomfiture it causes? That people would think you're some sort of geek who doesn't know how to cross the road, or that some babe would notice you helping your Dad cross the road and would think it's not macho on your part?! If yes, screw the 'babe'.

Express your love, in words or by actions. The more you don't, the harder it gets. Appreciate someone's love if you're lucky enough to bask in it. For not everyone is lucky to be loved, or realise that they're loved. If someone lets you know that you make him/her feel special, it makes YOU feel special. If you tell someone that you really care, that person will give you all the care in the world too. If you tell someone that you love him/her right from inside, then that someone will definitely love you too. Said it before, saying it again- Show your love if you love someone, it really doesn't make sense otherwise.

Life is really short. Not just for me and you, but for everyone. A person whom you may want to hug today might be gone tomorrow. A person whom you may want to call now, might be gone in an hour. Never to be back again. And it might only be then that you realize that you'd give anything in this world to get that one chance back again. Sorry, but you can't. Cos that's how it is- 'Time, tide and wait for none'. Neither do the damn Mumbai local trains.