The Peace of Love | Experience Life | StarLit Eyes!

Last Friday the entire world celebrated Valentine's Day. Maybe some parts of the world with more fervor than others. Some of us celebrated it with long stem red roses and teddy bears (picture the huge bouquets and teddies plastered all over your Instagram feed a week before Valentine's Day!) , some of the die heart romantics within us celebrated it with embarrassingly cheesy Hallmark cards and chocolates while some of us who have more expensive tastes and I'm assuming fatter wallets😜celebrated it with Tiffany jewels, Gucci bags and Hermes scarfs! Nevertheless, these countless card, jewelry and designer brand conglomerates have made sure this "special" day becomes an inseparable part of our lives. 

You know, I have nothing against Valentine's Day. The world that we live in right now. I'm immensely thankful to have one day that celebrates love! I also (truly) enjoy that for at least one day in the year, my husband has to be (rather begrudgingly) romantic. Even though, it may be due to the immense societal and social media pressure that Valentine's Day puts all of our better halves under!!! 

Beware, my words in the start may mislead you into thinking I'm mocking love. This is not the case. I'm a strong adherent of the power of Love! It is the most potent of all emotions. It can conquer all other human sentiments. That's the reason why, love is the subject of countless poems, stories, ballads, songs, plays and movies. I wholeheartedly believe that it was love which made dying seem like a better option to Romeo and Juliet than to live in separation. It was love for knowledge and progress that made numerous researchers, scientists, inventors, adventurers throw themselves into the  unknown. It was love for mankind that made the great yesteryears leaders around the world dedicate their entire lives to the betterment of their societies. And throughout time, it is love that perpetuates the most unbreakable bond between mother and her child, it is love for the motherland that gives soldiers the courage to die for their country and it is only love that can transcend race, religion, caste, language, sexuality and borders. 

A few months back, I was privileged enough to witness the true strength of love. My husband and I attended the marriage ceremony of one of my husband's friend. You must be wondering, what's so special about this that it deserves a blog! Well, this was a very special wedding. It was the celebration of coming to together of not just two families but also two completely different cultures! You see, my husband's friend and his now wife are from different countries. Their marriage was a beautiful amalgamation of the two completely different traditions and ethnicities. The evening started with the couple completing saath pheras and ended with a white ballroom reception and dinner. The bride and the groom participated in both ceremonies with such seamlessness that it made this fusion of heritages seem natural. But what really warmed my heart at the occasion was the couple's respective families. Both the families performed each other's traditions with utmost respect. They helped each other understand the significance of their respective ceremonies and at the end of the night they celebrated their children's  union together as one big happy family. It's only the magic of love that can make people from very different parts of the world become one!

Unfortunately, this is the age of hate and fear rather than love and acceptance. Under the garb of  nationalism our current leaders espouse ideas of separatism. People have been divided into desh bhakts (nationalists) and anti-nationals, conservatives and liberals, capitalists and socialists, believers and skeptics. Nationalist leaders around the world are telling the public to "be cautious" of all those who are different to them. This difference may be of religion, race, economic status or simply language, culture, traditions or ideology! The saddest part is that this campaign of hate and fear is working. Today, we are living in a highly polarized society, where a mere difference of opinion can sour years of friendship and relations. Instead of progressing towards a more inclusive globalized society we find ourselves regressing into a closed, curtained and cold civilization. 

However, I still believe in the absolute power of love. I believe it is love which will free our world of it's shackles of segregation and unite us in harmony and peace. And to do so if we need more than one Valentine's Day in the year then so be it!!

 

They chose love!!

So did we!!