Who exactly is the “you” in “I love you”?

Your head is swimming...your thinking has become clouded...a rosy haze has descended around you and an overwhelming spell of dizzy happiness has enveloped you...you have fallen in love.

But when people claim “I’m in love with you” have you ever wondered who exactly is the “you” in “I love you”?

This “you” is actually a projected image of the actual person and this “you” does not have a physical existence. 

We never fall in love with real people...we always fall in love with some figment of our absurd imagination....some morphed extension of the real person.

Yet people firmly believe that fantasizing about someone else is as bad as cheating. Well the truth is people in love are always fantasizing...keeping the facade of the real person in front...mentally replacing him/her with the image and feeling high thinking “I’m in love with this amazing person!”
Well the amazing person resides in your mind and is not the person in front of you.

But then sooner or later most people are whisked out of fantasies.
Some zap out of love...some feel heart broken...some start to think boredom is inevitable...

What I am trying to say is that the basic premise of falling in love is flawed. Even though love can be real and is essentially an unsullied expression of a cornucopia of higher emotions...the person you love is always a work of fiction.

But yes...love is eternal...the love that you had felt for that fictitious person...the love that had you reeling in its wake...that was real...it’s a pity that the person it was meant for cannot exist.

Perfection is after all an imaginary concept which we can strive for but never attain...but it’s fascinating to know that we...we human beings with all our imperfections are still capable of imagining perfection...

PS: Let me provide a bonus acid test for ruling out confusion in love.
If I have never hurt you...you’ve loved me never...

If you’ve never hurt me...I’ve loved you never...

Real flowers vs fake flowers

Which one do you prefer?

Every one would say real flower.

[If you want to vouch for fake flowers you would have to come forward and rationally justify yourself...you are not allowed to pass a strong statement just for the sake of the shock value.]

      But why do we choose real flowers?

Is it because fake flowers are tacky? Not any more...nowadays you get sublimely beautiful fake bouquets.

Is it because they don’t offer the soft touch? Not nowadays...the velvety touch of fake flowers can leave us trembling.

Is it because fake flowers don’t emit fragrances? But tantalizingly perfumed artificial flowers are available these days.

In fact fake flowers come in better customized colours, feel softer to touch and emit fresher fragrances.

Then why is it that we long for real flowers? Real flowers fade away, are vulnerable to external forces and wither away within a finite period of time.

So it is the ephemeral nature of the real flowers that catches our fancy.

Why do we willingly choose transience over permanence? 

May be because in life the real surges of overwhelming emotions are temporary and feelings that we claim to be permanent are in all probability fake...

The big fuss about numbers

Some people attach way too much importance to telephone numbers...in a disturbingly emotional and clingy way.

You will often come across people who will feel offended and hurt if you cannot recite off their phone numbers. These people probably take the phrase “memorizing by heart” literally.

You remember the person if you find the person fascinating. You remember the phone number if you find the phone number fascinating.

For other numbers there is the phone book where numbers can be saved.

The following are the attributes of a memorable phone number.

1. The number is an emergency helpline number.

Eg. Police station

2. The number is a finite repetition of a single digit.

Eg. 88888888

3. The number has a catchy or at least intriguing rhyme scheme.

Eg. 949494 or at least 357595

4. The number is a popular series.

Eg. 12358

5. The number triggers off some personal memory.

Eg. You figure out your own example. Why would I share any of mine?

6. The number has some dirty connotation.

Eg. Again I trust you to figure out your own example. 

Now if your phone number does not fall into the above categories do not expect your friends, family members, acquaintances or anyone to remember your number. It does not mean you do not create an impact on the person...it just means your telephone number does not.

PS: Oh...I forgot...there is someone who would remember your number no matter how many times you change it and no matter how random a concoction of digits your number be...this person is called a stalker. J

Hostilities

“Fight like a man”, “Don’t attack from behind”, “Do not harm an unarmed person”, “Never hit a woman”...and the list goes on...the ground rules of warfare.  The kshatriya handbook of combat sounds similar too. All across the world the rules convey a single thought...”fight with your equal”

The very point of a fight is to prove your superiority over someone and yet before a fight you and your adversary need to make sure that you two are equals!!

Another idiosyncratic rule is the undue importance attached to brawn over brain. The use of “chhal” or scheming and plotting is strictly prohibited during a war. An honoured fighter would never stoop to adopt such measures and would proceed to defeat his enemy with sheer strength, skill and agility. But doesn’t that degenerate the warriors into two brainless stubs?  

The aptitude challenged person would still prove his virility through brute force while the less brawn endowed person would rather employ lethal tactics and exploit loopholes in such confrontations.

In a war you fight to win...either as a strategist or as a mass murderer...it’s your call. J