Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The routine stuff, a question, few cool girls and boys and beautiful opinions, to end this day of love. This time it was different. Got more complex and a lot of thinking involved. Some took days to answer while some just escaped without answering. Compared to years before, I guess this time it is more abstract and straight to point, which resulted all this. So, the question, which probed deep into many people and was exciting for me to seek answers for is, 

"So, when do you know it's love?"

Keerthi: When you become over cautious around the person.

Bindu: When you start missing the person in every activity you do unconsciously, if you do things, which you do not like, but just for that person.

Deepa: I felt like talking to the person again & again though we fight a lot and have contrasting opinions, we are poles apart in everything, but I felt love - which dragged me towards bettering myself to impress the guy.

Preema: i think when u feel more happy n excited with the person and in general and you can’t stop thinking about the person.

Swathi: If you want to be with a person despite knowing negatives.

Anees: When you don’t hesitate to talk anything with that person, you don’t mask yourself.

Anonymous1 (female): Love, as I see it is more about understanding each other and feeling assured that you are there for each other in times of joy, grief or facing any difficulties. When you think you are ready to take up all these responsibilities from your end and be with it enjoying all phases of it equally, may be then you know that you love the person.

Anonymous2 (female): May be when you blush. (laughing)

Chaitanya: When you keep thinking about her most of the time. You miss her right after you part. Whenever you are sad or happy, she's the first person you want to share with.

Elias: When you miss the person so much that when you have opportunity to talk to them, you don’t give importance to other stuff.

Arvind: When you close your eyes you think of her, when you open your eyes you think of her.

Muhammed: When you are sure, it’s the one and that you know by some inner feeling.. guts, instinct..

Sachin: Well not just one, could be any of the conditions like, great comfort level, sticking despite numerous fights.

Rajesh: Probably the moment when one stops questioning it and take it for granted that he/she is the one.

I have almost equal mix of singles, couples and wait-and-watch kinds, in age group 18-25 and majorly residing in metros.

Many asked me mine and this time, I had a definite answer. Actually that thought was what pushed me to do all this. It happened as a tweet, which goes like,

“So when do you know you are in love? When you look like a fool to yourself?”

I haven’t had any epiphanies myself with this exercise, but one theory came out. I had few people who completely couldn’t answer my question. But this was majorly because of two reasons. One, they are singles and also never had feelings for another person or two, they are afraid that if they think they would realize that had feelings for someone in the past and let that person go out of whatever reason.

I was flattered by one answer, Rajesh’s. He explained to me his line. He said, “We meet lot of people every single day some we hate and we seem interested based on gut feelings and first impressions. Personally, I don't believe in love at first sight, at first sight, one may get impressed but that’s not love. So these new faces we see on a selective basis we take a relationship forward to chatting/talking stage even for friends but at every stage we have these questions in our mind that is really he/she the one or is it just the mind playing tricks. So I mean to say when that questioning stage stops and we really believe in it beyond doubt as in taking it for granted. So that’s when one realizes. :) “

An answer which is much more valid, and found when I simply googled for and appeared in one yahoo answers post was as simple a line as the question was,

“When you don’t have to ask.”

Love is all that you can give or receive without shortage. Live Love Eat (as Chung Wah restaurant says)

Folks, thanks for responses &

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Sources:

http://www.wikihow.com/Know-if-You're-in-Love

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/asyoulikeit/page_136.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Love-Epiphany&id=316857

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoveEpiphany

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080403115456AAnSkQc

http://www.theholidayspot.com/valentine/symbols/

http://www.mydearvalentine.com/love/symbols/

Valentine week - 2

You can express sometimes without words. Actually that adds to the mystery already in love.
Let us see what significance some symbols of love have.

Heart- There is a famous line, “A hundred hearts would be too few to carry all my love for you.” 
A heart through which a cupid’s bow passes is a famous symbol of love. The arrow is rumored to have 
diamond tips. All the cultures accept heart as symbol of not only love but also joy, charity and compassion. 
The heart in our body is said to be the seat of love and the veins of the heart are attached to the third 
finger of the left hand in which wedding rings are worn. This belief and tradition is age old. 
Even Alchemists and Magicians used this symbol while dealing in love issues. It is graphically 
represented as a triangle (inverted).

Rose- When we say “I love you” to someone the picture of a red rose automatically comes 
to our mind. Proposals are incomplete without gifting a red rose. This flower symbolized 
love, peace and forgiveness. There are 72 different colors in which roses are available.
Each color denotes a different emotion.On Valentines Day (14th February every year)
the florist’s shops are flooded with red roses. If you have a sweet-heart then you 
should consider yourself lucky that you can present someone with this amazing love symbol. However, be 
careful not to allow any thorn hurt your heart-beat while you present him or her with the flower.

Lavender -- Enchantment and Uniqueness

Orange -- Fascination
Pink (Dark) -- Thankfulness, Friendship and Admiration
Red -- Love, Respect and Courage
Peach -- Modesty, Gratitude, Admiration and Sympathy
Pink (Pale) -- Grace, Joy and Happiness

Deep Red -- Beauty and Passion
White -- Innocence, Purity, Secrecy, Silence, Reverence, Humility and True Love
Yellow -- Joy, Friendship, Jealousy, Hope and Freedom
Black -- Farewell
Red/White -- Unity or Engagement
Yellow/Orange -- Passionate Thoughts
Yellow/Red -- Congratulations

Rose bud -- Beauty, Youth and a Heart Innocent of Love
Red Rosebud -- Purity and Loveliness
White Rosebud -- Girlhood
One Dozen Red Roses -- "I Love You"
Single Red Rose in Full Bloom -- "I Love You"
Tea Roses -- "I'll Remember Always"

Cupid- The word Cupid in Greek means desire. In some renowned paintings 
cupids are shown blindfolded to highlight the fact that love is blind. It is said that when 
Cupid strikes individuals love blossoms. It is amazing to think the logic why people fall 
in love? Well! There is no definite answer to this question. It is believed that Cupid 
(son of Goddess Venus) strikes the arrow and people fall in love. It is believed that after 
Cupid strikes the arrow people fall in love with the person they see first. On Valentine’s Day 
centerpieces, cards and paintings of Cupid are sold in plenty punching a hole in the pocket of many lovers.

Apple- A symbol of ecstasy, fertility and abundance as well as love. History and 
even pre-history proves that apple played a big role in igniting and nurturing love. 
Dinoysus (Greek wine god) offered this love-fruit to Aphrodite to win love. 
Apple also signifies feminism. It is a symbol of peace and adoration amongst the 
Chinese people. The Apple is a testimony to the adage "big things come in small 
packages." At her wedding to Zeus, Gaia supplied Apples to Hera signifying long love and union. 

Harp- The harp is a very old musical instrument and symbolizes love. This is associated 
with music, art and poetry. Harp has a mythological connection with Celtic 
civilization. This is supposed to be the bridge between the heaven and earth. 
In Norway and Iceland, harp means higher form of love which leads to paradise.

Love Knot- The concept of love knot crept into the society from young Muslim women. 
These ladies used to send messages of love woven via knots in a carpet. This actually 
is an Arabic tradition. The concept of love knot exists till date.

Love Birds or Doves- Doves are believed to be birds who reflect love, 
innocence, purity and meekness. It is also believed that on Valentine’s Day they find 
their mates. On Valentine’s Day shop sell centerpieces of two doves, preferable 
made of ceramic or glass. These are favorite gifts of love.

Ribbons and laces have been associated with love and romance since the 
days when a knight used to ride into a battle sporting the scarf or handkerchief 
presented to him by his ladylove. In the bygone times, laces were used 
making women's handkerchiefs. It was also usual for a lady to drop her 
handkerchief in the path of the man whose attention she wished to draw.

  

Valentine week - 3

I would like to share my taste of movies, in this theme, romantic movies till date. The list is pretty common too. Enjoy them this time of the year.

“She did. You are the miracle” 

The sad movie adoption of book by Nicholas Sparks, “A Walk to Remember” is the best love story I have ever seen. People who read the book found movie not impressive. I read the book later and felt the movie had a dynamic approach and spirit of young love. However, both are worth exploring. The beginning of their love story is with a wonderful kiss and a date followed.

Moving on to Bollywood, it took a while for me to decide on my favorite. It might not be common. It actually is controversial. It is not the usual suspect of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge or Kuch kuch hota hai or any such romance of SRK. It is Love Aaj Kal. I have more friends who just don’t dislike but hate the movie than who like it. It is an outlaw. Very few Indians can digest a newly wed woman running away. That is the love epiphany for her actually. I felt the true essence of the movie, what the director was putting forward can be summed up in the line, “Ek-o-ek kahani, bas badle zamana” Times change, people are now more practical. They have choices, even in people. But still the concept of monogamy and inertia in love is alive and it will be, in my view.

Romeo & Juliet, Devdas & Parvathi, Heer & Ranjha whoever died for love, would have chosen to live together at any cost and fought for it if they had a choice.

If I turn now towards my mother tongue, I have three all-time favorites. It is the routine list. One would be, Cheli of Gautham Menon. It is a beautiful, simple love story with awesome cast. The love epiphany for the male protagonist occurs immediately after he sees the girl. This happens when you have preset ideas of a perfect someone and you encounter him/her in a way just like you imagined. The plot is pretty romanticized but life in it is the elegance with which it is screened.

Another is the beautiful “Priyuralu Pilichindi” of two couples. It is the remake of “Sense & Sensibility” or could be called Indian adoption of book “Sense & Sensibility” of Jane Austen. It contrasts the idea of love between two sisters. It also has the sub-theme of women empowerment. It was great watching such gorgeous actresses and handsome actors work together with enchanting music. Love epiphany in this is pretty complicated. But you can see it in the case for younger sister more clearly.

The final choice in Tollywood would be “Sakhi”, the heights of romance from Mani Rathnam. It has the freshness of love and also has ingrained love epiphany with a phone call and also in the climax. Well, I got to say; I am disappointed that all my choices of Telugu movies are actually the remakes of Tamil versions.

I see many people feeling that romantic movies are easy to make. It is true. You just need three parts, a meeting for girl and the guy, a reason for parting or conflict and a climax, happy or sad. Well, you can see this is common theme for all the above but yet it is not enough. It takes immense chemistry and sensibility for making a Titanic or DDLJ after all.