Imagine if you could peep inside your heart and see Love physically?
Love, ironically, is the most abstract feeling ever because sometimes even when it screams out loud, the person experiencing it is still oblivious to it; not being able to acknowledge it’s presence for a long time. But as much as we deny it, a part inside all of us craves Love. That intangible emotion where sensibility takes a back seat, and vulnerability, the front one.
What does it feel like to meet someone you Love?
He architected a new garden around the corner of my heart; close to my home of comfort and peace. Small. Yet magnificent. As soon as I enter this garden, a calm breeze welcomes me, carrying along with it a fragrance of different flowers intertwine with wet mud. A pleasant wind passes tenderly through the long strands of my hair making them dance with joy. There is a soothing feeling that takes over my body instantly. My shoulders relax. The pressure between my eyebrows vanishes. My heart whispers to me “This place is where I wish to be forever.”
What does it feel like to spend time with someone you Love?
As I walk a little ahead, I get the whole view of the garden. There is a modest fountain in the center, surrounded by numerous colorful shrubs, in all shades of blues and violets. I am taken aback by the simplicity and elegance of the fountain. The water flowing through the fountain seems like it belongs there, like this is what it was meant for, smiling its way in and out. It is so crystal clear that I can almost see my soul in it. Minuscule droplets of water intermittently settle on the neighbouring soil. The emanating petrichor along with the burbling sound of water puts me in a state of meditation. My thoughts declutter. All my muscles relax. The strain in my joints disappears. A feeling of tranquillity conquers my soul. My heart jumps with joy, murmuring “I want to sit next to this fountain forever.”
What does it feel like to make memories with someone you Love?
As I look all around me in the garden, there are comfortable benches of different shapes at every corner. Around one corner, next to radiant red roses, there is a bench imprinted with the words ‘in the memory of our first hug’. Little ahead, in between peaceful purple orchids, a bench is engraved with ‘in the memory of our first kiss’. Next to proud yellow sunflowers, the words on the bench read ‘in the memory of our first vacation’, and amidst darling daffodils, ‘in the memory of our first fight’ written on it. A little ahead, a half-made bench next to warm white lilies reads ‘in the memory of our future’. There is a comfortable spot in every nook and corner of the garden. My heart goes hopping between all the benches, whispering “I want to preserve these benches for the rest of my life.”
What does it feel like to lose someone you Love?
In a blink of my eye, the garden looks drastically different. The calm warm breeze that had welcomed me earlier has suddenly turned frosty. I am freezing. My jaw is unable to move. The water in the fountain has frozen to ice. Still. Lifeless. All the flowers in the garden have withered. The leaves have surrendered to the earth. A palette previously full of colors now appears to be in all shades of grey. Grey are the roses, so are orchids. The benches have broken down into small pieces, like a bulldozer went over them. My heart sulks. Brooding over how this garden used to be a beautiful place I would love to visit. Now every second of time spent here comes with throbbing pain.
When we meet someone and fall in love, we build this magnanimous garden together, intricately designing every inch of the space there. And when that person goes away, you are left with a painful memory of how the garden used to be. And no matter who you meet in the future, you will never be able to build the same garden again. There might be other beautiful gardens, but never the same comfortable spot again. Does that mean we stop building gardens again?
-Sanketa Raut
Samay and Solace 