Before waxing eloquently on the topic of love and affection, I would like to talk about the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’. In 2007, when the last survey was conducted for the selection of Seven Wonders, India’s Taj Mahal came at number one. From the technical point of view, was its construction more challenging than the ‘Great Wall of China’? Everyone would say that it must have taken greater efforts to build the wall of China. It took about 2000 years to build the 21,196-km wall as it stands now. It was an extremely toilsome job. I don’t know how many rulers came and faded into history.
As compared to the wall of China, the construction of the Taj Mahal took only 22 years. Then why did the Taj Mahal get more votes than the wall of China? In fact, there is love in the foundation of the Taj Mahal and there is war in the foundation of the wall of China. Nobody likes war and everyone wants love. The nature remains so beautiful only because of love; the happy moments of life also come because of this positive emotion. Where the stream of love flows, the whole canvas becomes adorable. Well known poet Abhishek Kumar has succinctly put it:
Gul khile mann mein
gulshan khile
Aap jabse hamein ho mile,
Aap se maheka aangan mera
Bhul baithe sabhi ham gile,
Sar pe chhaya ajab sa nasha
Sari duniya badal si gayi,
Prem ka pushpa jab se khila
Sari duniya badal si gayi.
It was the songs of love that made Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Gopaldas Neeraj or Sahir Ludhianvi youth icons in their times. It was the springs of love that made Amrita Pritam and Sahir immortal! But the time changes too! It metamorphosed, changing its form into passion and thus got entangled into the physique. We are in the same phase today. I do not say that the river of love has stopped flowing, but it has to be accepted that many physical mounds have also emerged in the flow of love and unfortunately the modern world has accepted it as love. The body plays the role of a catalyst in promoting a certain kind of love, but there is no place for the physical in the natural love. How can love limit itself to the world of union of only two youths? When Nida Fazli talks about love with his daughter and Munawwar Rana about his mother, they are really talking about natural love. We are talking about that kind of love which should be the basis of our real life. Just imagine, can there be any greater love than a parent’s love for their child? Right from Mahavir, Buddha, Gandhi to many other greats in the world have spoken the language of love from time to time. Despite this, neither we could make a monument of love, nor did anyone nurture it with love. We have only poured gunpowder on it and tried to destroy it.
Love is a gift of nature, but we are creating boundaries around it! Let us allow love to flow freely. If you wrap it in every boundary and fragrance of relationships, have you ever wondered what this world will be like? If everyone builds relationship based on love, there will be no jealousy and no room for greed. There will only be humanity on earth. Visualising such a world, renowned poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan has written:
Pyar kisi ko karna lekin
Kah kar use batana kya,
Gunn ka grahak banana lekin
Ga kar use sunana kya,
Le lena sugandh sumanon ki
Tod unhe murzana kya,
Prem haar pahenana lekin
Prem paash failana kya!
But where is the real space left for love today? Love is flying away from life like camphor. It will not be an exaggeration if I say that love has become a marketable commodity. In the modern world, families are disintegrating because the element of love that binds them is weakening. How can we imagine a better society when there is no family left? When the society is fragmented, how will the nation remain unaffected by it?
Sometimes I feel that the present era itself has become the enemy of love. Whenever two youths of different castes and religions take an oath to spend life together, the self-styled custodians of the society start wielding sticks. Family members become enemies. Caste and religion come under threat. ‘Honour killing’ takes place. Gopaldas Neeraj, the author of love songs, had realised this long ago. He wrote:
Aaj ki raat tujhe aakhiri khat aur likh dun,
Kaun jaane yah diya subah tak jale na jale!
Bam barood ke is daur mein maloom nahin,
Aisi rangin hava fir kabhi chale na chale!
In this situation, we can only pray so much on Valentine’s Day that we should love each other, but before that we should learn to love ourselves. When you love yourself, you keep the stream of love flowing. Once again I will say that it is love that can make life beautiful. If we spread love by eliminating the evil of hatred, this world will be filled with happiness. The rhetoric of enemies of humanity who speak of the language of skinning people and letting the rivers of blood flow around can be countered only with love, love and love! There is only one solution to counter violence and war across the world and that is love, love and love! Kabir Das has said too, Dhaai aakhar prem ka padhe so pandit hoy.
So, Happy Valentine’s Day!
The author is the chairman, Editorial Board of Lokmat Media and former member of Rajya Sabha.
Since Valentine’s Day has become a symbol of love, no one should have any objection in its celebration because love is the only element that gives beautiful shape or form to the creation of nature, adds fragrance and colour to it. But the reality today is that love is entangled in the realm of lust and is wrapped in the smell of gunpowder.