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February fanfare

Last Updated 15 February 2018, 18:31 IST

“Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime... Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time,’’ quoth John Donne. Yes, it was the month of February and John Donne could dispute our reason to love, ever so much that month, yet we persist.

Trees were adorned with beautiful new foliage. Flowers were blossoming and all my young friends seemed to be infected by the sight and sounds, the very feel of spring. Pretty young things were all out gaily dressed in bright colours and I couldn’t help but join them.

So, what would I wear in the dreamiest of all seasons? It had to be my flashy yellow jeans, with hand-painted hearts! I was walking about one morning when a friend said to me, “I see you are wearing your heart on your sleeve, I hope they don’t stand for those you have broken!”

I smiled sheepishly. I had neither broken any hearts nor were these jeans a sign of my many heartbreaks, with each heart for one young lad who “crossed my heart” and left me to pine. Like the teenagers, I was all too aware that Valentine’s Day was upon me and decided to pay homage to it in my own humble way.

Of course, to believe that love is to be expressed through material presents would be pretentious. True love is far more sublime an emotion to reveal itself in excess. It is generous and forgiving and flows quietly like the tranquil river that opens itself into the ocean, expecting nothing, wanting nothing.

It is much like the love of a mother (or even a father!) for her child — a feeling that never outgrows the child, a love that embraces and shields against all. It is, as Sant Rahim Das has said of the nature of the sages — but what may even apply to this most beauteous of emotions — like the water of the river and the fruit of the tree that asks nothing of you: “Taruvar phal nahi khaat hai; sarovar piyat na paan.”

Valentine’s Day, I believe, is a time to express your love for anything, everything and anyone — mother, father, teacher or a friend. It could be a sunset, a newborn’s cry, the twitter of birds at the rise of dawn... it’s an endless list.

While this day, named after St Valentine, stands for love between those who choose to be together for life, it also celebrates a far more embracing love of the whole humanity. Therefore, let us celebrate this day, and this month, in a special way by remembering the Dalai Lama’s words: “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

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(Published 15 February 2018, 18:30 IST)

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