Unalloyed love of the aged

When I called up my maternal cousin, he was indeed in a melancholic state after having lost his spouse, months ago. He had got into wedlock when I had just then launched into my college life. His spouse was an awesome person with amazing warmth, abundant goodness and an adorable attitude. Apparently, she and my cousin did make for a wonderful couple.

When my cousin stated, “Now, I have lost the light of my life,” I could sense a lurch in his throat. At that moment, I discerned the cardinal truth that 'the love'— the unalloyed, genuine, matured and intense kind— grows only over a great passage of time. Such love, the depth of which is unfathomable, occurs only when the couple would have lived closely together for years, accepting each other and their foibles, shortcomings and eccentricities.

That is why, at that stage, though the spouses differ from each other, be it in their tastes, habits, ideas, attitudes, emotions, sentiments etc., where myriad differences of opinions abound, there is magnanimity in respecting each other’s perceptions or perspectives without foisting one’s views on the other.

In fact, the deep love takes the form of deepest sentiment especially during that ‘climacteric stage’ where one’s physical powers try declining, with ailments mounting. And, love starts attaining the sublime state amidst such high emotional dependence with the fabrication of a strong bond. The absence of which, makes each day, inexplicably longer; with the inner heart feeling ineffably feebler; for the surviving spouse.

Interestingly, the love between the aged couple is so tacit/explicit that it simply debunks the theory of “The greater the expression/exhibition of ‘love’ through eloquent phrases, the deeper is ‘its’ intensity”.

Definitely, this ‘decades-old, divine love’ is diametrically different from those ‘loves’ intertwined with overt “demonstrations or vociferations”. Since here, one seldom gets to see the aged couple, even speak to each other, before others. Such is their deep, secret love.

Indeed, very much unlike a few months old, puerile puppy-love of today’s youngsters, which often has the proclivity to pop up as fantasy, progresses as farcical and precipitate as pathetic fiasco.