LOVE penetrates deeper than a mere four-letter word

Faraaz Kazi

14-February-2011

Vol 0 | Issue 1

Liking and appreciating a story is a pretty subjective matter and post the success of ‘Truly Madly Deeply’ I do get a couple of criticizing comments per ten appreciative gestures. One such comment was made by someone I know and he happened to question the existence of such a (truly, madly, deeply!) kind of love in today’s world. I don’t try and defend myself when someone raises a question against my work as I respect their interpretation of my art and acknowledge their reading my work in the first place, but this question ignited a thought process in my mind. And here I was thinking, does true love only manage to survive between 300 odd pages of a novel?

How many of us are fascinated by an uncouth program on television which catches cheating partners red-handed by using ‘undercover agents’? We ‘tch-tch’ while watching it, yet how many of us can claim to remain faithful if a model in a mini-skirt walks up to us in a coffee shop? A popular youth channel recently put up an update on a social networking site regarding their upcoming program which puts contestants on a dating spree where they see each other for just five minutes before moving onto the next person of the opposite sex. ‘Speed date’ they call it. Another program on another such channel consists of contestants doing insane tasks to earn money, making and breaking their pairs as a couple and ditching each other every week. So what is it that motivates today’s generation to believe in concepts that would have been termed outrageous a couple of decades back?

A well-known youth brand recently adopted the tagline ‘Move on’. I believe it could not have found any other couple of words better than these to highlight the mindset of the Gen-Y. An impatient lifestyle, early exposure to the surging Occidentalism and the influence of media and social circles have changed the youth into unworthy representatives of that thing called love. We have couples living in with each other just to ‘test’ what marriage would be like, making it seem like buying that first car. People change partners more often than their underwear--that explains why some stink a lot--and being tied with one person is considered as ‘boring’ and ‘out of fashion’. The disadvantages of monopoly are many and competition improves efficiency, they justify.

From something sacred and god-like, love has become a mere four lettered word thrown around to appease guilty pleasures. “I love you, muwah, muawah!” someone sends a message on your chat window and you jump with joy. For all you know that someone perhaps would not even shed a tear if something unfortunate were to happen with you the very next day. And yes, how easily people part ways today. Not a tear shed, not a drop of regret and all traces of that supposed ‘love’ have disappeared in a week, within a fight or two. And then they blame each other and tell their friends that the ‘spark’ was missing from their relationship. Huh?

There was a time when kissing was frowned on-screen and some memorable scenes aesthetically shot remained etched in your memory. Anything further than that was shown by a zoom in of two sunflowers snuggling upto each other or the shy lovers disappearing behind a sturdy tree. And today what has it boiled down to? We are not ready to accept any movie without an item song, any actress without a hint of cleavage or any love making scene without some nudity. From the classic pairing of Romeo-Juliet to the chick-lit novels of today, where the independent woman earns a lot and sleeps around with multiple guys, literature too has outlined the change in the society.

The very definition of relationships has morphed beyond belief and people from the old-school like me, can only stare in frustration as today’s youth make a blatant mockery of emotions and feelings. Love, trust and respect have become distant dreams of the few who still believe in finding their soul-mates in this world. And I salute their hopes, for it is said history repeats itself and may be, just may be one day true love will walk on this planet once again. Till then keep hoping, keep loving.

Faraaz Kazi is author of the romantic novel, ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’