‘He was the ONE’ she thought
and smiled. She was going through her mailbox like any other day. She had never
deleted those mails; rather she never wanted to delete them. It was more than
fifteen years in the past; still she couldn’t gather
enough strength to delete those mails. She did date a few guys since then, but
still her heart craved for him. Why is it so hard to forget someone when you
know you can never have them back in your life? Why is it so hard to put up a
facade of happiness and contentment, to put up a pretentious smile while it
aches inside constantly, incessantly? She always believed that: ‘Love is
supposed to give happiness; Love is all about being content’; Love is what Raj &
Simran shared
in DDLJ; Love is what Veer Pratap
Singh & Zaara Hayaat Khan shared in Veer-Zaara. She never
believed that Love equates Pain; she always thought Pain is an outcome of one’s
selfish needs. Sharing your life with the ones that you love and cherishing
those moments in their absence is what Love is about, or what it should be.
Being in Love and being loved should provide you serenity, unbound. Then why
was it so hard for her to move-on? Why couldn’t she fall in love with someone
else, bear those same feelings for someone else? Did she get immune to
emotions? She questioned herself everyday yet failing to find any answer every
single time. They were never in
a typical relationship, they never shared the chemistry which Samar &
Meera did
in Jab
Tak Hai Jaan or
the one of Avinash
Singh Rathode & Zoya in Ek Tha
Tiger. They
were just strangers or as she would prefer saying “THE PERFECT STRANGERS”; they were just Zain &
Riya.
15 years Back...
Mail 1:
Mam,
I have sent an
attachment of my story and I hope you will like it. It was my dream to publish
my book under your publication house. I will be obliged if you give me a chance
to share my story with everyone. I’ll be waiting for your decision.
Dear,
I’m really sorry to
let you know that I’m not the correct person. I don’t own any publication
house. I’m a painter; I guess you sent your attachment to a wrong id. Anyway I
read your story and I really liked it, though it’s a tragic story.
Mail 2:
Dear,
I am really sorry for
all the trouble. Actually, my friend is at fault; he gave me the wrong id.
Actually he went to some art exhibition and there he chanced upon this lady
(owner of the publication house), she subsequently gave her id to him; I was
supposed to mail my work to her. And at the same time he also happened to
collect your id from one of the event organizers, as he liked your work(as in
your paintings) and he might’ve wanted to discuss something with you.... the
point is, he got confused between the
email ids and rest I think you can work out... I’m glad that you liked my
story, it’s my first work and I’m bit tensed regarding the publisher’s
decision. Yes, ofcourse it’s a tragic love story. If you don’t mind I would
like to know the detailed review of my work from a complete stranger.
Dear Stranger,
Well now I finally
could put two and two together; it’s true that my paintings were sent to the
art gallery exhibition and I am happy to learn that your friend appreciated my
work. Now coming back to your story, its great; the emotions, the phrases, the
plot, the characters, the dialogues etc, everything is perfect. I’m sure your
publisher might give you the break. Just one tiny thing, it’s completely my
opinion, I don’t agree that tragic love stories exist, I don’t believe in that
kind of genre. Either it’s a love story
or a tragic story. I can’t understand the point, why do people say tragic love
stories? Love gives you happiness; it gives you the feelings of optimism and
jubilance. Love can never give you devastation and pain. So what’s the point of
tragic love stories?
Mail 3:
Dear Stranger,
Well, definitely tragic
love stories had existed and still do; in fact, several literatures from around
the world, give you perfect examples of immortalised tragic love stories, like that
of Romeo and Juliet,
Cleopatra
and Mark Antony, Tristan and Isolde, Layla and Majnun,
Heer and Ranjha etc. They were passionately in love with each other, underwent tumult
and trauma of titanic magnitudes, only to pay the cost of their unyielding and
unrelenting love with their lives put up on crosses. Love stormed through their
lives, gnashing and shattering everything that came in its path, but with the
unfortunate result of the untimely demise of the souls of Its owners. Their souls
got ripped apart in one treacherous blow and the unbearable pain that they
endured, every feeling they underwent immortalised their love. The tragedy that
was fashioned out of their lives only because of the LOVE they had shared made
their stories the haunting examples of one of the greatest tragic love stories.
Love stranger... J
Dear Stranger,
I do agree that they
are the biggest examples of Love but the statement that the tragic part in
their stories is owing to the love they shared, is not true. Love was the part or
the time they had shared the feelings of togetherness, they had laughed in
synchronism; came to know each-other, shared emotions and gazed into
eachother’s eyes for hours along; the time that was reminiscent of the shared
warmth, felicity and passion that was inherent to their relation. The Pain
tainted chapter was the time when they had endured sufferings caused by the
plotting Fate and its subsequent circumstances, not because of Love. Their love
and they themselves were never the reason for eachother’s pain. Their love
stories are said to be tragic because fate and circumstances had treacherously
conspired against them. People were somehow more drawn towards their misery,
sympathizing unapologetically on other’s afflictions being so human a nature. They
concentrated more on the part on how those souls had endured the trials and
tribulations and ended their lives for eachother. They actually muffled the
Love end of the story, the part when they were so happy with each other, which
is why their love stories are called tragic love stories. Now-a-days even when
people go through separation, they synonymise their stories with tragic love
stories, how silly is that... just think for a moment, when your mom kisses your
forehead, does that hurt? No, why? Because that is love; like even when your
girlfriend kisses you, does that hurt? No, because that’s the beauty of love. How
can that love gives you pain? You will be in pain because of your selfish
reasons or circumstances. The moment things go outside the periphery of your happiness;
you feel dejected and get upset. That feeling is not love; when you get
overpowered by your selfish schemes, you no longer feel the Love, and you are
left in the void that gives you Pain. Love and Pain are two different
sentiments, people get confused and they start saying love gives you pain. Isn't
it? Well it’s my opinion, it might be wrong...
Love stranger J
TO BE CONTINUED... J
