<p>Sometime back, during a stroll at Lalbagh, I happened to see this strange sight when it started pouring suddenly. A ‘cool dude’, looking like a collegian, clutching the backrest of a concrete bench with care and created a canopy with his curved back, cocooning against rains his coy-looking girlfriend, who was comfortably seated on bench below. </p>.<p>Indeed, the flower of love blooms and blossoms in bounteous hues. And, just like the squillion types of flowers, even love is of several kinds. To begin with, there is the ‘puppy-love’ or ‘calf-love’, generally seen in tween-age (pre-teen). Hurling sanity and sagacity to winds, they are simply besotted with that special ‘someone’, who means the world to them.</p>.<p>Then, you have theatrical (public display of affection) kind of love. Here, you get to see smooching, snogging —all done unabashedly in full public gaze and you wonder, whether they are convincing themselves or others of their love’s authenticity! Maybe they aren’t aware, “lies need stressing, facts don’t”.</p>.<p>Next is the ‘platonic love’, where physical proximity is pretty much zilch. It is simply about staring into each other’s eyes, while secretly and slickly suppressing the volcano of love that simmers and smoulders within!</p>.<p>Diametrically opposite is carnal-centric lascivious love. So here, though the sly man would be seated with his supposedly steady-going lover, his sneaky eyes would be scanning around, scouting for sinuous partners! </p>.<p>Then, it’s the ‘cupboard love’, wherein one is clinging to someone chiefly for the materialistic gain. Here, you have ‘sugar-daddies’, the debonair-looking older men who date younger girls, those who mollycoddle them with myriad gifts. There are older women too – called ‘cougars’, who date younger guys, and ply them with a plenitude of high-end gifts. </p>.<p>Next, is that love that ensnares another only to engage in constant verbal combat with him! There is photo-based love, too where one person makes sure their pictures are taken by constantly so they can be shared later on social media. Not to miss, the ‘unrequited love’, where only one is committed, while the other couldn’t care a fig!</p>.<p>I still remember that during our college days, when a friend was on a date, us girls were awfully curious to know what had transpired. The moment she held her guy’s hand, he began gasping and gurgling. Hearing this, in exhilaration, we had exclaimed, “Wow! How terribly romantic!” She dismissed it saying, “Nah! He is highly asthmatic!” </p>
<p>Sometime back, during a stroll at Lalbagh, I happened to see this strange sight when it started pouring suddenly. A ‘cool dude’, looking like a collegian, clutching the backrest of a concrete bench with care and created a canopy with his curved back, cocooning against rains his coy-looking girlfriend, who was comfortably seated on bench below. </p>.<p>Indeed, the flower of love blooms and blossoms in bounteous hues. And, just like the squillion types of flowers, even love is of several kinds. To begin with, there is the ‘puppy-love’ or ‘calf-love’, generally seen in tween-age (pre-teen). Hurling sanity and sagacity to winds, they are simply besotted with that special ‘someone’, who means the world to them.</p>.<p>Then, you have theatrical (public display of affection) kind of love. Here, you get to see smooching, snogging —all done unabashedly in full public gaze and you wonder, whether they are convincing themselves or others of their love’s authenticity! Maybe they aren’t aware, “lies need stressing, facts don’t”.</p>.<p>Next is the ‘platonic love’, where physical proximity is pretty much zilch. It is simply about staring into each other’s eyes, while secretly and slickly suppressing the volcano of love that simmers and smoulders within!</p>.<p>Diametrically opposite is carnal-centric lascivious love. So here, though the sly man would be seated with his supposedly steady-going lover, his sneaky eyes would be scanning around, scouting for sinuous partners! </p>.<p>Then, it’s the ‘cupboard love’, wherein one is clinging to someone chiefly for the materialistic gain. Here, you have ‘sugar-daddies’, the debonair-looking older men who date younger girls, those who mollycoddle them with myriad gifts. There are older women too – called ‘cougars’, who date younger guys, and ply them with a plenitude of high-end gifts. </p>.<p>Next, is that love that ensnares another only to engage in constant verbal combat with him! There is photo-based love, too where one person makes sure their pictures are taken by constantly so they can be shared later on social media. Not to miss, the ‘unrequited love’, where only one is committed, while the other couldn’t care a fig!</p>.<p>I still remember that during our college days, when a friend was on a date, us girls were awfully curious to know what had transpired. The moment she held her guy’s hand, he began gasping and gurgling. Hearing this, in exhilaration, we had exclaimed, “Wow! How terribly romantic!” She dismissed it saying, “Nah! He is highly asthmatic!” </p>