“Hum ek baar jeete hain, ek baar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai… Aur pyar bhi ek baar hi hota hai. (We live once, we die once, we get married once… And love also happens only once.)”
If you know anything about Bollywood then you know this iconic dialogue Shahrukh Khan pulls off so sincerely in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. When I first watched the movie as a child, I was mesmerized by everything – the sets, the acting, the songs but most importantly – the love.
Love…what is love? Is it that beautiful feeling that makes people cross hundreds of miles just to catch a glimpse of the face they have only dreamt of for years? Or is it that grounded emotion that keeps people where they are, waiting for that one moment when they find their soulmate?
Also read: An Open Letter To My *Almost* Lover
For me, love was always the final outcome to everything. Love was the purpose and love was the result. I saw potential love stories everywhere I went until one day I met an amazing man and I thought, “Wow, this is it!” We were both eighteen at that time.
It was great and it was magical but one day the magic started to fade and life happened. Slowly, we grew apart. No, there was no specific reason why we grew apart, we just did. And as a result, we broke up.
But…but how was this possible? I thought to myself. You can only love one person in your life, right?
Wrong.
Love is something way beyond those flowers and chocolates and fancy dinners. Love is understanding. Love is comfort. And this love, almost never, happens once.
Think about it, in this world with a population of 7 billion human beings, will we never really understand someone else enough to love them?
This thought came to me as quite a shocker. Turns out, finding true love was never the destination, it was always the journey! So I set out into this newly discovered world and…it has had its ups and downs. There have been moments when love has pulled me down and times when it has pulled me out of my black hole – and I have cherished each and every one of them.
Also read: An Open Letter To The Guy Who Loved Me… And Left Me
It isn’t a concept that needs definition. We, mortals, require definition and a mould to fit into. Love is an emotion, let’s just let it be that. If you have at some point lived through heartbreak then you should remember to not give up on love. It’ll happen again, when you are ready and when you really need it, it will creep back into your life. You will love more than one person in your life, and you know what? That’s okay.
Love is also knowing when it’s time to let go and when it’s time for a second chance.
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