What’s the deal with Luv Stories?
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What’s the deal with Luv Stories?
Gaargi Jamkar
SY BSc (2022-25)
Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins
There are so many problems in the world that humanity has no answer to…
Climate change, AI revolution, what came first, the chicken or the egg?, hiccups, dreams…
Today I want to address the most timeless and mysterious question,
The question whose answer we may never have an answer to but whose force we cannot deny,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me introduce to you…
What is Love??
I am nineteen going on twenty and if there’s anything I’ve learnt in my score of living, love is as obscure as religion. People have different theories and different ideas about it, but in the end it’s all make believe. Not saying that love isn’t true or real (God definitely isn’t) but it is unconditional and intangible which makes it impossible to observe and quantify. (And as a statistician, I took that personally)
Dictionaries define this noun as ‘an intense feeling of deep affection’.
Notice the word intense; when you google synonyms for love, you get words like passion, warmth, attachment, endearment and even worship and devotion. Seems to me that being in love is like joining a cult. You’re hypnotised by hormones and pheromones and suddenly your brain is wired to do stuff that’s irrational and inexplicable and yet cherished by society. I feel like that sentence accurately defines love or atleast the essence of it. Geet from Jab we Met says “ प्यार में कोई सही गलत नहीं होता है “ or Disney tells you “Love is an open door” and suddenly life is all glitter dust and sparkles and you’re on your way rushing to the airport for one last chance. If you look at this phenomenon from the alien perspective it’s like humans have this button in their brain which when activated can get them to do anything you want, however illogical or crazy it may seem. The feeling is quite overwhelming and it apparently makes you live life to your fullest with people going to the extent of saying ‘It’s better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all’
Now that’s some deep philosophical poetry which probably just sounds good but isn’t actually true; they say it just to feel better about themselves. However, something I can agree with is that love brings on character development. Mr Darcy (yes I will be referencing Austen) after being completely whipped by Elizabeth becomes sweeter and does acts of kindness without being selfish. The Beast also becomes nicer and more considerate of Beauty as the novel progresses. In real life you ask? King Edward the 8th abdicated his throne in the United Kingdom, went against the government and church of England and got married to a twice divorced American- Wallis Simpson in 1936. Quelle Horreur indeed!
But this is just one side of the coin. What happens when love goes unrequited or unmatched? Some people take it maturely and simply deem it as something not meant to be. Others trod on a more dangerous path of obsession, anger turned bitterness, bursted ego and slowly channel their intense feelings into hate. Yes, love is quite close to hate and the lines get blurry soon. Cue every man who has attacked (knife/acid/etc) a woman for not accepting his confession of love. No matter what you do, the feeling of love awakes something inside everyone inducing actions that are out of the ordinary (positive and negative)
History has shown that when it comes to the matters of the heart, human beings are as unpredictable as the Monsoons in India. The following are a few examples of how love and how the idea of it has evolved for me through literature.
- The first tragic and unsettling ending: Pyramus and Thisbe
For all of you thinking that Romeo and Juliet was the first tragic romance you better get your notepads out. Shakespeare was inspired by this tale and he often mentions it in his other plays too.
Pyramus and Thisbe were two star crossed lovers from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Their families are rivals (obviously) and forbid their marriage. One night they plan to meet in the forest. Thisbe arrives first but she sees a lion with a bloody mouth. Afraid, she runs away forgetting her cloak behind. Pyramus arrives later and sees the lion licking Thisbe’s coat and presumes the worst. Broken and desolate he commits suicide. Thisbe returns to the place again and after seeing Pyramus dead, kills herself too.
After reading this story for the first time, I laughed out loud! The tale is quite peculiar and depressing but it does a great job of explaining how extreme and passionate love can get. Sure you could argue that it’s exaggerated but it conveys the feelings and turmoil in the minds of the lovers. Interestingly enough, this story made me want to avoid love because as you can see it corrupted one’s brain and thinking. (a.k.a evil virus of Satan)
2. The Shakespearean cliche: Portia, Bassanio and Antonio
Context: Portia sees Bassanio for the first time and of course falls in love with him. Bassanio does a task correctly and wins her hand in marriage. Bassanio is your typical handsome hero however what attracts him to Portia is not her but her wealth. This is what Portia says about him sometime after their marriage:
That do converse and waste the time together
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit,
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestowed
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
Portia speaks of Bassanio as the ‘semblance of her soul’ which is such a very poetic and flowery way of saying soulmate. This was also the first time I thought of finding love as finding a ‘soulmate’. This play showed me how stupid love can be honestly. Of course, Portia falls in love with Bassanio at first sight and of course, she wishes to marry him immediately. Interestingly enough, Portia is the hero of the play saving Antonio from the clutches of Shylock and has the most intelligent lines throughout except when she talks about Bassanio. When she talks about him, her heart is always ‘fleeting with desire’ and her feelings cannot be repressed. Portia is that ‘gharelu’ woman, the dream of every alpha male of course.
3. Charles Dickens: Weirdly Realistic
I know! How uncommon and unbelievable to talk about Charles Dickens and Romance and NO I’m not talking about the Tale of Two Cities. Great Expectations was a book that made me realise that I didn’t love my first crush, I was in fact ‘infatuated’ with him. Seeing Pip pin over Estella made me think of the dumber side of love. How one can forgive some very obvious flaws or how one can be completely obsessed with someone but not really love them. It became clearer that ‘love’ and ‘like’ are not the same.
David Copperfield was one of the first books I read where the hero fell in love twice. Granted that his first marriage was more of an infatuation, he still loved his wife dearly. This book made me question the idea of finding true love only once in your life. It helped me realise that love is a more gradual process and not solely moments of electric sparks or violins playing like in the Hindi movies I used to see. Just like wine, love takes its time!
- Jane Austen: The books that have every woman on a chokehold
Of course this list would be incomplete without her. Mainstream cinema and books often showed love through the lens of a man. While I didn’t have any qualms against that, it is only after reading the Austen novels is when I realised that the female perspective hit home and suddenly I was able to be more compassionate to the characters of the story. The feelings, tensions and the glimpse into the heroines’ minds and hearts make them special and exciting to read. I will however argue that reading the Austen novels gave me the impression that I cannot be like other girls to find true love. That notion has been debunked since but the novels still stay close to my heart. (My favourite is Persuasion).
Shoutout to Disney’s Frozen and Maleficent. Showed me that true love’s kiss can be from your sister or your mother. Makes you realise that romantic love is not the most important love in the world.
To conclude, we may not know what love exactly is but we do know the power it holds over people and how it makes us humans act out on the most impulsive of our desires. Sure it’s important and vital to live but hey, is it worth the risk? Is it really worth growing if it comes to a point where you’re reciting cheesy poems because you swoon over someone else?
Opportunity cost right? Works either ways.