The Equation of Love.

The evening was lovely. Had been to the audio release function of Changampuzha's evergreen 'Ramanan,' the musical interpretation done by renowned Carnatic musician Dr. Sreevalsan J Menon. The operatic form of the poem rallies upon love between the protagonist Ramanan, a shepherd, and his lover Chandrika, who hails from an affluent family.

Love!!!

I'm not narrowing it down to romance alone. The often talked about simple concept of unconditional love at times seems not too simple to adopt.

"I" love "You": The equation here is initially balanced by the nature of "I" and "You". The incidence of a sharp difference in opinion between these two entities "I" and "You" often results in the dilution or diminishion of the "love" in between. Here the "I" and "You" continues to exist, but not the "love" which once connected them. It just takes a split second to turn the scale from "love" to "hatred". Or from friends to being back to strangers again.

The proper application of the concept of unconditional love should have ideally resulted in the reign of "love" regardless of the nature of "I" and "You". Without any expectations nor any desire for reciprocation.

Love for parents and siblings get diluted in the world driven by economics. Love for one another loses out on mistrust. The romance between a man and a woman so often bases upon expectations, acceptance from the society and future prospects. Bonding between individuals often depends upon the social classes they are in. You often show your companionable side to only those whom you feel are placed within the perimeter of your social status, ignoring the ones below your existence. Or only those from whom you believe you could draw a balance sheet out of. Everything dependent on and driven by necessity.

In another perspective, its not the absence of love. It could be the incertitude about the acceptance of love. That being self obsessed, you see others thru the prism of your own prejudices and insecurities, tending to look upon it from a skeptic angle, and hence failing to recognize love when been given. I recall learning a poem long way back in school, where the poet describes the panic of a little bird that trembles in your cupped hands unknowing that you have picked it up only to tend it; which can be compared to that of the tendency of the human mind to look at everything from a skeptic angle.

Love which was once an emotional aspect has now swung a bit more on to the practical aspect of life, and had the poet been alive today, I just wonder whether he would have chosen to write about love between a shepherd and an affluent girl.

-Balu