Love as addressed in this post would mean not just the one that appears on a Valentine's day greeting card. When I say
love in this post, I mean paternal, maternal, fraternal and all other forms of it that are known to exist.
So, why suddenly I have to write about kinds of love? You will know it sooner than later.
Love amongst human beings does not come for free. Love begets love. Beautiful isn't it? But when somebody returns your love along with it come the expectations. It is after all human, you cannot find fault with anybody. You only expect things from friends and not foes. And, very obviously you rub your opinions on your loved ones and not strangers. But, here is where the struggle starts and love spells its own doom from then on. Expectations clash with expectations and reasoning takes a back seat. The words of "why don't you listen to me" or "why can't you do it this way" come in. To showcase their love , people start narrating the account of all their good doings. For example, parents say: look my child I have worked so hard only for you. I did this only to make you happy and now you do not listen to me? And a wife says to her husband: I slogged and cooked for you, I washed your clothes , waited on you and this how you treat me? The husband replies: I struggled all my life to make you happy, worked over time to buy you a costly sari, cut my spending to buy you jewelry and now you say all this to me. You see , the ledgers and records of spending and slogging being opened up all at once, don't you? I see that you have noticed it only now, but I managed to do it much earlier .
Dawned with the realization that love amongst human beings becomes “ give and take ” when last comes to last , I sought refuge in animals. Again, I am not Menaka Gandhi or Amala( for those who do not know who she is, she is an ex-south Indian actress, who just like me found animals better) to set up organizations and run after animals. Forget about setting up an organization, I did not even buy a pet dog; you know my income is so low and I cannot force a dog to be vegetarian owing to my shallow pockets. Everything comes with a cost and so does a pet dog. But I wanted love for free, so I poured my love on to a street dog . It wasn't a dog completely it was a month old puppy in fact. I wanted to tell the puppy that I loved it. How do I do it? Would I buy a greeting and a white rose and say "I love you"? You know: different people - different needs.
You feel you heard this before? Then next time you switch on the TV watch the HSBC add carefully. What I am coming around to say is, it is a give and take policy but only the terms and conditions vary. I wanted love and the dog wanted biscuits.
So I bought Tiger biscuits, the cheapest available in the market. Ironical isn't it Tiger biscuits become dog biscuits. I called this puppy of my street and crush ed a biscuit and watch ed as it ate . It ate the one whole biscuit and wagged its tail. See, It started showing signs of love, cheap isn't it- love for a couple of biscuits. How easy it would have been if girls did not ask all those things they ask for and settled for a couple of biscuits like this cute little doggy. But, i t is a design time decision and you cannot change girls at run time, so let it be. I fed the pup again, I had a whole packet with me and had no intention of eating these biscuits myself, so I fed it with all my heart. It consumed five biscuits and still wanted more. Being a novice with dogs, I was surprised at its ravishing appetite. I could never imagine a puppy eating like this and could not see justice in the expression "gluttonous pig".I fed the pup another biscuit and called it a day fearing the little one's digestive capabilities.
Day two begins, I come back from office , and have the pup with a wagging tail, wait at the front gate. I understand what it needs, after all what love is ? Isn't it all about understanding each other? The day two ends with me feeding the rest of the Tiger biscuit packet to this darling dog. A week passed by and each day of the week I fed it tiger biscuits , tiger biscuits , tiger biscuits and nothing else ( Believe me, I am not Tiger biscuits brand ambassador) . On the 8th day of this love affair, I returned home from office proudly with tiger biscuits in my hand to find my waiting pup. I brought out a piece of newspaper on to the street to serve biscuits to my pup. You see , dining etiquette is must to stay healthy and as a mature adult who understands the complex concept of what love is, I was aware of this fact and so fed my pup,each day, on a sheet of paper and not on roads. So cool and nice of me isn't it? That day as soon as the pup saw the biscuits, its wagging tail stopped doing its duty and I watched in stunned silence. The pup came forward, sniffed at the biscuits, realizing that even the brand did not change showed me its butt and walked away! My plea to call it back on to the dinner table failed. I walked into my room with my own tail between my legs( I don't have a tail, this expression means I failed at something miserably , hmm). I let the day pass and the next day after much thought into the dog's act of denial, I decided to change the brand of biscuits. As it was raining heavily I returned home little late than usual with sunfeast brand. When I came home I did not see my pup( now it became “ m y” with 4 packets of biscuit in 8 days time , this is humanity - being possessive). The pup’s absence did not worry me as the previous night's incident was fresh on my mind . As I was looking around for any signs of my pup I heard faint , dog - like screams at a distance away from my home . When I went over I found my pup lying in the bushes. I was shocked . Then neither did I understand what really happened n o r did I dare to touch the pup because I never touched a pet dog, let alone a unkempt street dog. When I went home to drop my bag and see what could be done, my friend informed me that the pup was run over by a scooter and he did not have any means to help it. I could feel my throat drying up and stood helpless. After exploring all the possible avenues , the existence of Blue Cross society flashed across my mind and immediately I called up the blue cross for help. The attendee said the ambulance would be there in an hour. Meanwhile, for first aid I went around the area to find vets. It was late into the evening so most of them were not available and the one available said he did not have equipment at his home. Time was limping instead of zooming by as it usual ly does on a Friday night. What troubled me the most was the pup was hardly 2 months old and I did not think it would make it through owing to the nature of injuries. I felt like suing the blue cross for the delay but of course I did not. After repeated calls , at the end of three hours wait, an ambulance arrived and I was a relieved man when the dog was taken away, alive, to the animal husbandry. See how love of living things comes with expectation and worry. Firstly, pup’s expectation of feeding it with what it liked and secondly my worry of any danger to the pup.
I did not like this kind of love either because it is not free. Now, I resolved to love stones that don't set expectations, love leaves that do not cry when run over by scooter, and, lastly love any inanimate object that does not return my love and stays as it is whether or not I love it . One side Love - only love that is for free, unconditional and universal - is the best way to stay in love.
PS: Just in case if you find an animal in distress please report at http://bluecrossofindia.org/, HelpLine: +91-9962 800 800, Chennai Ph No:044-2235 4959(immediate action). Despite all the idiosyncrasies, we are still humans aren't we?
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