Half a day

More than movies it’s my passion for cooking that often takes me to the neighbouring Basant Lok (better known as Priya) complex. Because of it’s location, the complex is blessed with two very upmarket departmental stores where you get everything from all over the world. Apart from these, a few stores, my bank, a few posh and not-so-posh restaurants, coffee shops & pubs and of course the very warm single screen PVR populate this little hangout. A personal favourite since JNU days, I’m still a regular here. The mood is different, unlike malls where it’s too much of concrete everwhere. Especially in the lazy winter afternoons when you can just walk around with (or without) a coffee. I can go on and on about it…

So my Valentines’ in-house dinner once again took me to Le Marche on the D-day. And this blog is all about what I saw in there! My enlightenment on how love truly catches up on this day and how primitive I still am.

Young men with young women, young men with not-so-young women, young women with not-so-young men, people wearing satin shirts and white shoes, girls in skirts, many of them in no skirts! Women with flowers holding their partners hands…the whole world around seemed to be madly in love. It was more like the prelude of the movie ‘Love Actually’, and it felt like the cupid has injected a love ‘n’ life tonic to the old & lazy multiplex complex. I wanted to find another person roaming single, I realized, I had no other option but to look into a mirror. People stared at me with ‘Whatcha Loser’ look as I walked around. By the time my shopping was complete, I felt a li’l kick inside my stomach. No, not a baby, it was hunger this time! A coffee shop was the safest place to be, because all restaurants were full of love-birds. I was delighted to see two more singletons reading books and listening to music as I walked into the corner coffeeshop. Finally, I said to myself, “Oh dude no worries for you’re not the only one.” Found myself a table by the window with some lazy, semi-sleepy sun rays trying to peep in through the clear halves of the very artistically designed, zigzagged glass window of the shop. Amazing it was, I thought. The other two singletons (one male and one female) gave me a look and exchanged looks as I placed my order. I opened my book and placed my earphones setting my favourite FM channel. It was wonderful. The sun kept playing hide n seek, the kids kept running around, they played love songs on the FM channel…life was perfect. I drowned myself in the ocean of thoughts while flipping through the pages of the book. People walked in and out and that kept me busy enough not to concentrate in the book. Questions, questions and more questions came to my mind. Why Valentines? Why a day for love? Are these people all in love? All committed? Or just playing around for a day? Or they just don’t want to be single?
There were so many people around, and I watched each one of them with an aquarian’s observational skills. The single guy had calls every five minutes, he’d leave his Chetan Bhagat bestseller, take the call and move out, I saw him wiping tears, must be missing his woman on the day of love. The single woman, on the other hand looked quite liberated,. She read a book and kept making notes and drank water from her strinkingly red Nike sipper that drew everybody’s attention! A young couple walked in, the girl must be my age, she looked prettiest in Priya’s I thought,. She was dressed in a subtle pink chiffon saree for her man. Her man helped her seat herself as she finely adjusted her plates and made herself comfortable in one the couches. Have I ever done something like this for my man? Sweet. I thought. Then there was this Indian nerd guy with this Japanese girl who was so confused about the whole deal that she wasn’t able to choose her coffee. Then walked in a duo of these supposedly very hot English women with a kid. Couldn’t figure out if one them was the mother of the kiddo! Suddenly this very posh middle aged couple walked in. the lady was too prim to even like the place. She somehow managed to find a place and made faces that clearly said, when the hell can I get outta here!

I was deep in my own little world when the sandwich and the coffee arrived. That brought me back to the day! When I thought the world is in love and why do I have to hate it? If people are walking hand in hand, loving to be in each others arms for a day what harm does it do to anybody? They are not killing people, planting bombs around, they are not moral policing anybody, they aren’t into obtaining sadistic pleasures watching people die with bombs placed any and everywhere.

So what do we human beings want, we don’t want hatred, neither do we want love! I hated seeing people walking hand in hand, I ridiculed couples who lost themselves in each other’s eyes. I thought they were mad, and they thought I was mad, the feeling was mutual though. But what’s it that we exactly want? No love, No hatred? These couples whom I made fun of, are they killing people? No! Are they spreading terror and tears? Are they making you lose you loved, near & dear ones? NO!

Let’s just let them be! If they are not hassling us, why are we even trying to poke? We might be happy with the way we are! Why can’t we let them spread more and more love all over. Amen.

I finished food and walked off, I’ve had quite a day, I thought!