Decoding true love

Rajesh Krishan

I won’t be giving away any secrets if I tell you that ever since we became parents, we’ve never been able to go out together on Valentine’s Day. It’s been the story since 2011, the year our first child was born.

This is not to say that we’ve never tried to do so. We’ve tried on a few occasions, planning a romantic evening for just the two of us, but to no avail. Our parenting commitments come in the way.

For instance, on a Valentine’s Day, we planned to go to a friend’s place, but had to cancel it at the last moment because one of our children fell sick and we had to take care of him.

Another time, we couldn’t celebrate the day because it fell on a weekend and our children insisted on spending it with their grandparents. It also happened once that we left our little ones at home in the care of a relative to go out for a dinner in a restaurant, but had to return as our children won’t sleep without their mother beside them.

Of late, I’ve started telling myself that Valentine’s Day is nothing but a made-up affair, a bait to lure gullible people, especially the youth, many of who don’t even know what true love is. Whether that’s true or not, believing so helped me when there is Valentine’s Day.

What I’ve discovered along the way is that life’s greatest gift – love - is beyond any worldly experience or limit that one can imagine. William Shakespeare once said, “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” It follows, therefore, that when one is in love, and it’s true love, it doesn’t matter if one can take his or her partner out for a romantic evening on a particular day or not, nor does it matter if one can gift a bouquet or some expensive item to his or her beloved, because pure love is beyond all that. One can experience it in everyday life and in the most ordinary of things.

It helps that my better half shares my views on the subject and has never complained or showed any resentment. I believe that the reason behind this is that we always treat each other as best friends, which, in turn, helps us understand and respect each other a great deal. And, that’s that. The other day, she told me, “When I see you sing lullabies to our children, it strengthens the love and admiration I’ve for you.” Ah, sweet love!