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Sunday, February 15, 2009

The language of love

It took me a while to understand that love manifests itself in more forms than I can ever write about. The Eskimos have 52 words to describe snow. Nothing in the world would suffice to describe the complete array of human feelings. No spoken language ever can. But I try. And I try in vain. This post is for my readers like Omar, who have made blogging worthwhile through all these years.

I also thank Samie for sharing Pancho’s narrative with me.

***

I listened while the pastor spoke about the forms of love. Different people express their love in different ways. Some prefer exchanging gifts. Some think spending quality time best indicates affection. Some believe in physical contact like a warm hug or a light kiss. And others view affirmative statements like: 'Wow, you are awesome !' as a reinforcement of love.

I reflected on my experiences. What came to my mind first when I think of expressing love? I was reminded of the dumb and deaf gypsy girl I had met near Warangal on my tour to India.

I have a certain emotion attached to chocolates. When I was a kid, my mother would bring me and my brother a chocolate bar, and ask her to share it equally. Everytime, I broke it into two and gave one to him and kept the other half for myself. He was always amazed by my precision. He often wondered how I could make exactly equal halves. What he never found out was that I ate the bit that was extra before I gave him his share.

One day, I saw the gypsy girl carrying a handful of chocolates, I asked her, with our sign language, if she would share one with me. She gave me the whole handful. That brought tears to my eyes, and I believe that was one of those moments when I strongly felt the presence of love.

8 comments:

Arko said...

All he needed was a hug.

Anonymous said...

I'll agree with you on this. Love is such an Incredible Force. When directed towards nation, it becomes Patriotism. When that love is more intensely channeled into the family, Sacrifices occur there.

Like that Mumbai terror incident, where a Commando after having finished his job went back to rescue his colleagues and was killed there after having helped out his friends. What love and dedication he should have had to take upon himself such a Task!

Wherever there is greater manifestation of love, you can see 'God' there...for 'Love' is the Currency of the divine and could easily be translated into action.

Such a person raises Free Hospitals, Temples Of Healing, Educational Institutions...where the terms like 'School Fee' and 'College Fee' are Unheard of. He could send water to deep deserted grooves where it is a luxury and at no cost.

Open facilities for Orphaned children, give them a promising career, stand aside and watch everything with no pride but love for those young ones who have matured into responsible citizens and create alltogether a different future for the nation.

Love makes all this possible and even more. If every one is awakened to its presence deep within, these Miracles will not be an Isolated Occurence but would happen consistently on every day of the year.

Unknown said...

Lolzz again .. its not a praise .. you are not used to it.. one day you will realise each of the words i said.. for sure , till then Have wondeful days ahead All the best..

Aparna Ganguly said...

@ Omar
Praise makes me uncomfortable. And I am not used to it in the sense - not to this degree. I hope your words come true.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing..brought tears into my eyes-true expression of love..:)

CraigJC said...

Whoa, great post. Love is indescribable, but you nailed it.

Metal said...

Nice blog! Keep writing.

Unknown said...

Hi,

I was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be very good.. u write well.. Why don't you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘The Variegated Sky’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;

BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!

This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)

Cheers,
Ray