Romance, This is how I knew you!!!!

"Dhoondu ise jaha bhi, hota nahi waha,
Dastak yeh de gaya lo, socha nahi jaha"

(When I am looking for it, I find it not,
Where I have no hopes for it, it seeks me but".) (*)


Romance - The world often forgets your beauty. Your depth. Your deft touches. And your enigmatic charm. But I do not.
What are you? Why can I not find words to define you? What is it about you?

I have felt you. A number of times. In a number of different ways. Whenever I look back to those times, I feel illuminated. There seems to be heaven all around. And it does not matter how long it lasts.

My friend defined Romance for me when I asked her what is this deep feeling that makes me want to - keep waiting for someone till the time is right, keep away from someone if it is for his good, keep my feelings for him silent for the sake of his feelings for someone else ?

She said - "the most intensely romantic thing in the world is when circumstances, nature, a certain person and your own state of mind hatch the perfect conspiracy to create a moment that though fleeting leaves such an imprint that you remember it vividly years after it has passed."

I thought about it. She was right. We seek romance throughout all our living moments but what about those moments when we have felt it and moved on to the next moment without acknowledging it? I find it hard to explain myself here. I think of using words of the great masters of art. I think of penning metaphors of my own. But in the end, I can only give in to the greatness of that one master of masters - Life. Nature.

So, I will tell you about one of those several times in my life when I felt romance brush by me.
I had gone to visit a friend in the city where she was working. She was staying there in her official guest house along with a few of her colleagues. There was this one tall,lanky guy who met me the next morning at the breakfast table. He looked at me and asked me if I was from a certain province of India because I look very sharp. The next two days of the weekend he offered to drive us in their car for the sightseeing. He hadn't seen any of those places in all the time that he had been there. He never felt the urge to. The first journey we disagreed on everything but I could feel the heat slowly build up with his purposeful jibes followed by the stolen glances over the rear view mirror. I hated him. Then I recalled the time when I first fell in love and I realized why he was evoking such strong reactions in me. During the group dinner next day, I became aware that he had realized something too.


The next morning I awoke with a fever. I had to catch a flight back to my place. He was there waiting, the only one there, so early in the morning in the living room downstairs. Over the last two days, I had heard numerous funny stories about the tantrums he threw to get up early for office. He asked me about my arrangements to go to the airport. There was something else lingering on his mind. I could see that in his face. I was not very responsive that morning. I was feverish and I knew that he was married and very happily so. He slowly got up and started climbing up the stairs towards his room. But then he stopped mid-way, turned to me and said - "It was very nice to meet you. Take care". I think it is only then my reserved exterior broke a little as I flushed and looked at him full in the eyes and smiled - "It was nice to meet you too".


This particular experience of mine may not seem worth mentioning. It may not even seem romantic. But for our acute and astute senses it was delicately romantic. And in all its subtle glory, it was real.

This world is a breeding ground for eternal romantics. Every nook and corner here will be able to tell me its own story of romance. So, here is my request to all those who read this post.


Relive those moments in your life when you have had a brush with romance, had felt its charm and regaled in it. Let us know a bit of those moments and remind us why we felt so one with this once-romantic show.

(*) the lines in Hindi are a part of the lyrics of a title song of a recent Indian TV show that is now no longer on air.