The Romance that Connects

This day, two months ago, 6th November 2011 to be precise, something incredible happened in my life and as much as I wanted to hold it back I simply couldn’t seem to do it.  The actualization of the expression often solicits the natural in us. And this one is long due from me.

I’ve been attending so many weddings of late that I don’t remember the last time I had dinner at home. Pun aside, what makes the weddings incredibly joyous than the wedding per se is the connection between two people and further two families; getting politically registered. As much as I’m happy for all my friends and relatives who have embarked upon new journeys in their life, I’m equally baffled at the institution and the huge baggage this brings into an individual’s life and these people calling and anticipating their biggest romance in life is about to be started which I hope for of course. But,  oddly and understandably most weddings I have been part of, have been arranged; processed and scheduled by the elderly from both sides. What continues to surprise me is how two people, two educated people, vary of the world around ‘em, vary of the emotional and behavioral imbalances, can agree to spend their lives together over just one meeting and that too, in presence of a huge mob by considering only financial and economic stability as the barometer for the all-awaited-and-most-important event in their life to happen. I am not saying, they don’t work out well or they don’t fit well together or anything. For me personally, that’s not the kind of romance that connects. So we have arrived at a kind of understanding about how this post is gonna look like, haven’t we? This is only my personal opinion and I am not condescending the institution of marriage or arranged marriage per se.

Of all the arguments and about-life discussions I have had with family, friends and others, wise men and women or otherwise alike, what I have learned and understood is, Life is beyond survival. Its ok if you are not the best person on the planet, its ok if you are just ordinary, its ok if you are not the richest one in your family tree but its not ok if you don’t have a decent enough story to tell your grandchildren about your life when you turn 60. I’m not saying the whole arranged weddings don’t make up for good stories but I’m just saying, it is not the kind of stories I would want to tell my grandchildren. (That if all of us live beyond 2012, of course).

For me the kind of it that’s most fascinating is how two people meet each other and over a period time grow into knowing each other and reach a stage where they can anticipate each other’s emotion when certain thing happens but still be their own while loving and respecting the other – that makes up for a bloody good story for me. Either that or meeting someone all of a sudden on a journey or something and getting to know ‘em like really well and deciding to spend the rest of your life together. Its still better than meeting someone over a cup of coffee in a family get together and deciding to spend your rest of your life with ‘em – I know its a load of bullshit, but that is what ticks for me! If there was any magic left in the world, it would be in understanding someone and wanting to be with someone despite their inherent inconsistencies. I know its difficult and sometimes even challenging but who cares really? the attempt matters more.  May be sometimes the greatest romances in your life won’t last long, but there is nothing wrong about it really. When I talk about the greatest romance of my life, I want to be able to sing a waltz to that one and for me to be able to sing a waltz to her, she should be special. Special in my heart, special in my life and not be a part of stories I tell but be the stories I tell.

Only then, I could sing something like this to her like the guy from the Before Sunrise film….

Daydream delusion/Limousine eyelash/Oh baby with your pretty face/Drop a tear in my wineglass/Look at those big eyes/See what you mean to me/Sweetcakes and milkshakes/I’m a delusional angel/I’m a fantasy parade/I want you to know what I think/Don’t want you to guess anymore/You have no idea where I came from?/You have no idea where we are going?/Launched in life, like branches in the river/Flowing downstream, caught in the current/I’ll carry you and you’ll carry me/That’s how it could be/Don’t you know me/Don’t you know me by now!

Or perhaps its just the 24 year old romantic in me talking, if I ever happen to revisit the same thing 10 years from now. I might as well flag it as spam. Time is such a bitch!

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