Life. And Love.

Sometimes, I wonder about life. And love. And everything in between.

I distinctly remember complaining to my sister-in-law, about how all songs just talked about love, broken hearts, and yearning. Bhabhi, newly married, and far wiser than I was at the time, simply said, ‘it’s because love is such a universal thing…you’ll understand it some day’.

I’m not sure if the day has arrived yet, but I think I do understand things more than I did five years ago. I understand what it is like to love your family, I mean – really, and truly love your family, and the feeling that there are people in this world who love you so much that they would do anything for you. Looking back, I think I understand how my parents felt as they watched me grow, and how they feel now that I’ve left home, and all the millions of ways in which I misunderstood them. For example, I didn’t realize until the day I left home that my mother loved me. After three days of non-stop arguments, and constant declarations that she was so glad to see me leave, she burst into tears when I gave her a reluctant hug at the airport. Two minutes made me see the truth that I had been blind to for 19 years.

I think I understand how I will feel when I have kids, and grow old, and think back to days when I was young. In fact, I’m already doing it. I wish sometimes that I could rewind the clocks and grow up again, this time as a much better daughter. Sometimes, I realize that I am turning into my mother, but the thought does not terrify me the way it used to. I suppose that is the beginning of wisdom.

I think I understand why people continue to live in the Sahara Desert, or the Polar Ice Caps, or in bug-infested rain-forests. Home is home, and nothing can change that. The tse-tse fly cannot; and neither can the worst weather phenomenon. It all boils down to love – love for the land, the people, and the familiarity of everything.

W. Somerset Maugham, oh so truly said, ‘Love is only a dirty trick played on us to ensure continuation of the species.’ I’d like to add to that. Love also ensures a uniform geographical distribution of the human population. And balance in the world.

It’s such a beautiful trick though.