Monday, February 15, 2010

A day for love in a world stripped of it!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! February 2010-02-14 is going to be a day I will not forget for a long time.

Yes, the incredible feeling of having someone to love and to be loved for an entire lifetime will overwhelm me, today, as much as any other day I have met her. I have seen my feelings escalated over the past few months ever since I have met and known ‘the’ person in my life. I also remember the time when I was stag and used to preach doctrines on the lines of, “why should there be a separate day for love? Why is any other day any less important? Why are we blindly bootlegging the west?” ...and things like that, which I now assume was the hormone surge in the rebellious mind. And ever since I have been where I am, with her, I want to grab every other occasion to celebrate out togetherness, our love, and I want to reach out and do everything that would bring her to smile. One thing I am positive about is this – If I have reached here, anybody would have.

Its 2010-02-13. Saturday. Eve of Valentine’s Day. German Bakery. A haven of myriad colours. Colours that are flavoured by the aromatic masala chai, fresh mango soufflé and the exotic egg omelette being dished out and served by the chinki waiter. You get to meet all kinds of people here, of all shapes and sizes, of all colours, genres, race and robes. Yes, robes ranging from denims to skirts to boxers to rags. You’ll find them all, but not without a liberal amount of maroon clad white skins(and the occasional coloured) who seek nirvana/bliss from their crazy karma at the wilderness of the Osho Ashram. It’s a strange place. There is usually a strata of smoke from tobacco to cannabis to the best quality marijuana that would blind your eyes with its varied type of intensity and blur, but yes you’ll find it all. There are lovers, losers, pupils, Portuguese, damsels, devotees, oh you’ll find them all. A not so exquisite ambience, with just wooden stools and tables, under the shade of a huge tree, and asbestos covering your head in the sidewalks,but still unique in its own special way - it’s a place I loved to be and where Id never been tired going over and over again. But in the wee hours of that fateful Saturday, just like the fizz of the champagne bubbles, with an explosive noise, this haven blasted into just a blissful memory of days in the sun. A 8kg IED tore from our lives a place that many of us would but often meet in our walk down memory lane. It also tore into shambles the lives and limbs of many that were in there and a dozen who were around. Official records claim that 9 were killed and 38 others injured in what is said to be the most destructive blast in neo-Pune in the recent times. And what was once a happy spot for memory to rest is just all rubble and blood and ash.

I still recollect the horror that gripped me when a dear friend called to me with baited breath that GB was no more. The violent shock just quadrupled to know that 9 were brutally murdered at spot. That was the evening I was happily contemplating how my wife would respond to the valentines gifts I have send her, and that which would reach her the next day. I had just finished talking to another friend of mine who also was planning a special day with his love. So bang-on into this beautifully romantic feeling came a sight showing heart of the real world, when it was least expected. I think the master mind behind the explosion had a very clear message and he gave it loud and clear. It was that no place is safe anymore and more importantly, life isn’t a dream we are living. It also meant that love for one another is just the lines on the card or maybe a national anthem, but in reality, they are out right there for your blood. Your very lives. I can’t imagine how the skies should have fallen on the heads of all those who loved the ones who died that evening. A day for love just a few hours away, and like a candle in the wind, its been blown away. Brutally. Mercilessly. The initial video clipping show bodies that are beyond recognition, charred and fragmented. Imagine the pain to not even see the face of someone you so dearly loved even for one last time, even to say good bye. What wrong deed could have sentenced them so hard? What action could have unleashed hell onto them and their family? We really don’t know. We really cant say.

In a world where nothing is sacred anymore, we can’t be sure of anything more than the moment we live in. Destiny and fate have been overrun by terror and vengeance. And it is like a forest brush-fire, gaining strength exponentially and leaving a charring trail in its way. We can only hope that we live long to see a day where love is the essence of life, for our family, our friends, our people, our country, our species, our planet. I know many of us will meet our fate somewhere in the crowd someday, maybe not long from today, but the days we are here, let love surmount us. Let love lead our way, for the time we stay.

Once again, Happy Valentine’s day.

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