Sweet Pain

Ek ladke aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakte…

Quite a cheesy line, eh? I used to hate this sentence when I was a teenager coz most of my best buddies were guys. And each time I hung out with them, people used to tease me and smell something fishy. While the guy and I were very sure of our status, the public had a gala time cooking up stories and gossiping to no end. I was bugged of them all… Why can’t a guy and girl be just friends, for Pete’s sake?!!

Now I think it is right. A girl and a guy cannot be friends. Pyar kahi na kahi se tapak hi padta hai...

I mean come to think of it… A guy who understands a girl is a jackpot… And if he also cares for her and is there for her anytime she needs him, then it’s an offer any woman would be a fool to refuse… Similarly, if a guy finds the right kind of girl who can let him live his own life and yet make life together productive and fun, then he would not want to let go of this lady. Right?

Right.

So, you see, be it Maine Pyar Kiya or Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the friendly couple always fall in love and end up tying the knot. And we all rejoice, coz they look so good together and they’re meant to be… And they shall be happy ever after… Blah blah blah… Right?

Wrong.

I met this woman at work. Shan’t tell you who. What’s in a name anyway?

She met this guy and fell in love. They were like a house on fire together, and they envisioned themselves the perfect made-in-heaven couple who just could not stay apart. Both their parents were against the wedding and society made sure they humiliated the families when the children eloped.

Six months went by. The girl realized that things had changed. The guy was not what he used to be. (Doesn’t that happen with every couple?) He himself dressed up and roamed the streets but he did not like it if his wife so much as removed the mangalsutra from her neck. To add to this, the guy;s mother made life hell for the girl. She forbade her from going to her mother’s place and set all kinds of silly restrictions. The girl was stressed and lost. She did not know what to do.

Matters went from bad to worse, coz the guy supported his mom. “What happened to our love?” the girl asked the guy. No reply. Almost at the juncture of divorce, the girl returned to her mother’s house. I don’t really know what happened during this time, but now the girl is returning to her husband’s place again. She is still not sure if she will be treated right or will be loved. She went as far as to say that she wished she was not married, and even if she was, not to her husband…

When I asked her why she was going back, she said she had already shamed her family once and she could not do it again by seeking divorce. She had to make this work. In fact, could I lend her a thousand bucks coz her unemployed hubby needed money and her salary was almost over?

A guy told me that guys love forever and girls don’t. Girls move on easily and their love isn’t as deep as a man’s. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t know what to say. Some things are just proved in the course of time, not argued and debated over. Of course, matters of the heart are not gender-specific. I am not claiming men love less than women or gals are better lovers. No sirree… This is an era of equal opportunity and equal deceit.

But I sure know for a fact that those who love truly, whether a man or a woman, carry the love within their heart for ever. They may not always be with the one they love, but they cherish their memories till eternity.

Even if it hurts.

Coz love is a sweet pain…

-Lonely Princess