Great romances are tragic.
Romeo and Juliet – both poisoned. So did Layla and Majnun, some royal take on executions. Mughal style. Brutal
Then you have Heer Ranjha, more death, jealous relatives, they say.
Sohni Mahiwal, overflowing river
Sassui Punnhun – this time it’s the desert.
Mirza Sahiban, totally diabolical, brothers and betrayals.
Tales of love that never materialized.
There are more stories in the East than in the West. Too much swabhiman on right side of the river Indus I suppose. And of the wrong kind but who would tell Big B about it, he should let his son and daughter in law live happy separate lives.
Not to sidestep, love makes you promise crazy things.
Pluck flowers, moon and stars – theoretically impossible but such things have been promised and seldom delivered.
Jumping from a moving train. Extremely Indian. Romantic, but a successful attempt would not bode well for the guy – its mostly men who promise such things.
Then there is this promise to die. I never understood this one. But have been known to happen. Personally, I have no respect for such lovers. Although Myth has it that Layla and Majnun met again in heaven, where they loved forever. So yeah, probable, the lovers loved longingly in the life everlasting.
I once drove through Watts, CA to Compton, CA. I am a brown guy with a Turban. It does not get ballsier than that. But you really have to know the perils of life in Southern Los Angeles to appreciate the love slash desperation. And be in the pants of a boy in his early twenties to genuinely fathom the depth of it.
Life goes on.
Girls grow onto become women. Boys grow onto become big boys.
As the cliché goes, they think with their penis, and even when they engage their brain, it seems like it’s still working in service of their balls.
Somethings do not change.
A man would always do things he would not if not for the lure of love or the lust behind the lure of love.
She shares songs of love, allure, longing and belonging. And she shares so many of those. The cheesy, the corny, the sappy and the sentimental are all charming when the man is absolutely smitten.
And one day she asks me, ‘how do you like them songs?’ ‘I could not listen to them all’, I said. ‘Too many ads.’
‘Well, my darling, there is a thing called YouTube Premium, and costs less than a month than a shoot of your espresso.’
And so, I did. For a man who does not use WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and what have you, he invested in YouTube Premium and have been enjoying uninterrupted music ever since.
I suppose, when it comes to the things we do for love, this wasn’t so difficult after all.