Love or Lust

So what is this emotion??? Asked Mannu, a teenager to himself ... tucked away comfortably under a razai in a cold and dark night of Delhi. The clock had struck thrice, and he had been trying to sleep for quite some time now... But Priya's thoughts won't let him !!

"What is this new weird feeling at the pit of my stomach! ... " he asked to himself again.

"Why do I flutter at her sight, why do I fumble at her slightest glance, why is it that her passing by casually in the school corridor can give my heart a run for it's money! ??? And What the Hell is this new weird feeling at the pit of my stomach again !! ... "

And so he went mumbling again and again. Till the moon got tired of him and let the Sun hear him out.

Given the fact the very few of us have ever found the answer... Mannu's questions are understandable.

It's Valentine's Day again, as I write this. It should not be too difficult to guess the theme of the passage. I wonder if St. Valentine ever wrote something to guide us to an answer ? Only then would I consider naming a day after him and making the whole humanity sit up the at the corner of their seats to get the slightest hint of getting a valentine -worthwhile. So, coming to the point ... my question is this ...

Can we get something to tell Love from Lust, Affection from Attraction or pleasure from satisfaction ?

I will just try to answer.

I had identified two kinds of forces, one is the force of attraction, other being the force of repulsion. Attraction, Lust , pleasure... all can be said to generate the forces of attraction.

Forces of repulsion do nothing more than destruction.

I would call Love beyond simple mechanics!

It is when two masses exert a gravitational force on each other. Like the Earth and her Moon, like the Sun and his Mercury... Like Saturn and it's rings. They revolve around each other, perpetually, timelessly... with no past and no future.

Two things that come together and Create completeness.

Aristotle, I doubt ever understood Love. Being the author of something as unromantic as the "Theory of Logic" can't help.

I doubt if Logic could ever come to understand love, he's locked in his calculations... while she's beyond maths.

I've noticed that whenever I fell in love, I gave more and got less in calculable terms. When I gave a box of chocolates to the little girl downstairs... I lost 80 bucks.

When I gave earrings to my first Love ... It had burnt a hole in my pocket! Then there's my Dad... who lets me pay the phone bill, not because he finds it difficult to operate his new laptop to pay online. But simply because he knows that by Letting me give a bit, I get the fulfillment of a lifetime. Maybe my sweetheart knew that I felt all my toil and hardwork at office had found a reason. Probably the little girl Noora knew little, how cute she is when she swings by the curtain of her door and asks if I've remembered to get her her cadbury on my way back from office.

But, I want you to know that every time I spend time, money and effort ... in what looks like a no return transaction - I grow by eons!

I'm filled to the brim with satisfaction, filled to the nose with Affection, and I'm Drowned in Love!! :)

So, I guess Love is to give something, and get more than the whole world in return, for free, for sure!!

So, Go on Mannu !! :) try it... give that rose to Priya tomorrow.

I'm not sure if it'll be a yes or a no.

What I know for Sure - every time you'd recall your dare years down the line-

you'll have some pride,

A smile and

A Great Story to Tell.