Garden of Love
6th January, 2022
Imagine if you could go inside your heart and see Love?
Love is the most abstract feeling ever because sometimes even when it screams out loud, a person is still oblivious to it. Not knowing its presence for a long time. But as much as we deny it, a part inside all of us crave Love.
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 the garden, a calm breeze welcomes me, bringing along with it the fragrance of different flowers mixed with wet mud. A cool and pleasant wind passes tenderly through the strands of my hair. 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 want to be forever.”
What does it feel like to spend a good time with someone you Love?
As I walk a little ahead, I get a whole view of the garden. There is a modest fountain in the center, surrounded by numerous colorful shrubs. I am taken aback by the simplicity and elegance of the architecture of that fountain. The water flowing through the fountain seems like it belongs there; like this is what it was meant for. It is so crystal clear that I can almost see my soul in it. Minuscule droplets of water randomly settle on the soil outside. The emanating petrichor along with the burbling sound of the 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 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’. Amidst darling daffodils, the bench has ‘in the memory of our first fight’ written on it. There is a comfortable spot in the nook and corner of life. 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 the blink of my eye, the garden looks drastically different. The calm breeze that had welcomed me earlier has suddenly turned frosty. I am freezing. My jaw is not able to move. The water in the fountain has become ice. Still. Life-less. 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. 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
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