True love stories

Some love stories just touch you...like this one - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081012/ap_on_re_us/holocaust_love_story

And when it's like this, you know is meant to be. In a time of such difficulty... reunited worlds apart... Somethings just make you believe in fate. This is one of those.

Love-o-logy

Finally I feel content to say that we live in the age of love... where true love prevails... where so many of my friends have fallen in love and made unions of their choice and not through matrimonial services. I have been fortunate enough to witness inter-caste marriages, inter-lingual marriages and even inter-religious marriages and all of this within India... that is a huge deal. What's bigger is the consent of the older generation. Almost everything I've witnessed has been lovingly arranged by the families themselves... In the stories where there are 2 different traditions to choose from, both have been duly upheld causing no grief to anyone involved. It's all very feel-good. And importantly, I applaud the older generation for taking it in their stride and consenting to what their children think is best for them. Instead of the old-fashioned dramas that our Indian soaps never fail to portray... threats ranging from 'cutting off the will' to suicide. Futile and stupid. Finally the generation that is getting married are treated as adults and allowed to choose their partners, trust their judgements and plan their lives together. This face of India is almost unrecognizable from the days barely 20 years ago when the bride and groom 'met' at the mandap. At least the urban face of India. But even the rural part has come a long way in this regard. In comparison to the past of course. I know now, for instance that in my grandma's village the girl can turn down the proposal... that she is asked for consent before proceeding with the arranged alliance. At least that saves a lot of unnecessary bride burning and other mental trauma that goes with the territory. Lets hope India has more n more development to offer in many diverse areas in the years to come.

Love before first sight?

Disclaimer: The views in this blog are solely my own.. Its not meant to hurt or disrespect anyone's sentiments. Also, I am not giving any form of "how-to-find-love-online-advice". So don't ask me for any. Just kick-back, relax and read forward..

I have been meaning to write this post for quite sometime now.. To start with.. how many of you believe in love-at-first-sight? I am sorry to disappoint you.. but I am not one of those die-hard romantics who does. In fact I am cynical about the whole thing because I believe that at first sight what you at the most feel is an electric attraction to the looks of the person which I personally don't classify as "love". That it may blossom into something beautiful in future... that you may cherish it years ahead, that it was 'just-right', etc doesn't count here.

But coming to the modern world... how many of you believe in love-before-first-sight as I've coined it? This is the age of 'internet-love', where MySpace, Orkut etc. are the best matrimonials that singles can themselves rely on... Having truly witnessed many such unions between people who didnt know each other from Adam, I can tell you it exists and its true. And in many ways, I feel that its more real than love-at-first-sight. Its a purely mental connection that happens and you like the person for who he/she portrays themselves to be. Its not physical (hopefully) and you share similar interests (hoping more so) etc. But this is the deception point as far as I am concerned. This way of finding love has sooo many holes in its fabric that you're lucky if you find anything pseudo to true-love. What if the person is sooooo not what they claimed to be? What if their tiny thumbnail picture on their profile was one moment of surreally great photography? What if they lied about anything from their hobbies/interests to their educational/family background? There are sooo many 'what ifs'. Yet, how are these hundreds of people finding love?

I'll tell you when love-before-first-sight has the best chance of working..

1) Timing is everything - The people involved definitely need to be the right age and 'marriage material' - What may not have worked on a girl even 6 months ago may as well work for someone who "tried" right now coz she is all ready to 'settle-down'

2) A little bit of genuinity - Lies ain't gonna build no love castle... All the stuff people say better ring true

3) Taking it beyond the scrapping - No love stories are truly built around the initiator engines.. The stories have to transcend these boundaries into the IMs - Yahoo!, MSN, GTalk or whatever works for you and then on, you'll be surprised at how similar the process is to the typical matrimonial engines themselves. (Except you arranged it for yourself! )

And so on... you get the idea...

So, how many of you believe in love-before-first-sight? I do....