(I wrote this article for Ao Students' Magazine, 2009. It was an instant hit, Oops! I was told so).
Quite predictably I arrived at an age where I was no more interested in girlish romantic novels. Phew! With years my concept of attraction, love and romance changed. Now, that I am in my twenties, I am more interested in building my career. If I get free idle moments I drive away thinking about the big cars I will be driving, houses I will be owing and the cheque I will be signing. I do remind myself every night that the perfect man is someone who is invisible.
When I was told to contribute an article for this magazine, I could have written Aristotle’s conception of the universe. But where will be the flavour for the readers, they would have forgotten the title when they reach the last lines. I decided therefore to write something that was very close to my heart because a dead philosopher had once said, ‘the thing that comes from the heart touches heart’. And believe me, your brain is very near to your heart.
During my schooldays I hated textbooks; they were ugly, rotten and bored me to dead. No wonder when I was in the seventh standard I picked up Sidney Sheldon’s ‘Bloodline’ from my uncle’s room. He said that it was a heavy read for my age, I proved him wrong. Then, when I turned thirteenth the next year, I am shy to say that Mills and Boons became my best friend. I loved every page in it. It had its spell on me; it made me believe in the existence of alpha men who were tall, dark and handsome like a sin, filthy rich, caring, faithful, talented, damn intelligent, great cook, amazing sense of humour, simply who gets 100 out of 100 in score broad of perfection. It resulted in me not admiring any guy in my class, and the reason was simple: I placed them in the category of guys who never got the heroine in the novel.
Then with years I got bored with the old cliché stories, I was introduced to Heartsongs- a series of Christian love stories where the hero was always God fearing, handsome, sweet and macho at the same time, devoted[1], and shed tears while praying to God. I was drawn to it. I started liking the ‘Halleluiah, halleluiah types’. So, when I was eighteen I wanted to marry someone who was ‘American Christian Billionaire’[2] . For your information, my interest to read romantic novels was purely a matter of choice it was not predestined.
Cannot be said much about the taste of teenage girls in Delhi, since it is a metropolitan city. But back home teenage girls are so much influenced by Korean romantic soaps and serials. That I know for sure that their minds are dominated by thoughts to meet a man with extraordinary qualities[3], someone who loves rain and who will carry them on his back, and visit them when they are sick. It is guaranteed that as they grow older they will laugh at the imagination they have created when they were so young. However in the process, I do not want them to fail to acknowledge their one true love and I pray that they will get the right man in this lifetime so that they will not long for rebirth.
As for me, in the process of my girlish conception of love and romance, I forgot my one true love. I forgot the Man who was the beginning and the end, who was there when I took the first breath of my life, who blessed me on my sixteenth birthday, who was there in every heartbreak of my life, who was there in my happiness and the gravest of my sadness.
I am a slow learner, it took me long to realize how much He loved me. His love is unconditional and that’s the best part of our romance. His love was so great that He gave His life for me and this kind of love comes only from above. He is a man who gave everything but asked nothing in return.
A man who was full of compassion, mercy and grace and His love taught me that life is not always based on the answers we get but also on the questions we ask. He was the Son of God, who throughout the ages was a true Hero in all the right sense of the term. Sometimes, it takes us a lifetime to realize how much someone had loved us. It took me quite some time to realize but I am glad that I belong to Him….and I feel so wise knowing that.
To Him, I dedicate these lines
“His hands are rods of gold
Set with beryl.
His body is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
His legs are pillars of marble
Set on bases of fine gold.
His countenance is like Lebanon,
Excellent as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet,
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved.”
Songs of Solomon
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