Beware! I am a 'lover'

I am in essence a ‘lover’; and rather an impish and incorrigible one! Well, I think we  are all indeed born to love. It is another matter though that in the course of our life’s journey myriad influences - some sweet, some sour – that impinge upon us give a defining shape to our personality and mind-set. That in turn determines whether one ends up predominantly as a person of love and inclusiveness or the one full of prejudices, malice, violence, hatred and contempt.

As for me, of my many loves, love for the beautiful bounties of nature both big and small, probably comes foremost. And blessed and lucky are we to belong to this part of the globe where mother nature has been so kind and generous to give us its very best: the majestic Dhaualdhar, the hills, the valleys, the rivers, the khuds, deodars and pines, such a bewitching diversity of plants, birds and animals and above all the charming, hospitable, warm, friendly and beautiful men and women to fall in love with. What an ethereal delight it is to go out for a morning walk, inhale the limpid, pine-scented air, pass through the quiet loveliness of the sprawling green carpet of tea gardens and feast your eyes on the first kiss of a golden ray striking the snow-laden mountain crest! How divine it is to perch on a rock of a hill slope and look at the crimson orb of the western sun gently slide behind the silhouette of trees and hills and illuminating the stray wandering clouds by its red-hued incandescence for a fleeting few seconds. Those moments cast a magic spell difficult to put into words.

                                           

Books come second. And my love affair with them has been long and most rewarding, and without having had to suffer any heart breaks! The very sight, smell and feel of a good book transports me to an exclusive world of exquisite pleasure. A thought-provoking passage or a story, a witty barb, a sharp retort, a pleasing metaphor, a pithy, life-revealing philosophical observation, a catchy turn of phrase, some rich tapestry of imagination in a poem, elegant prose make book reading a source of rarest of life's delights. And my range is wide and varied: from autobiographies to fiction to travelogues to mythology to science…in short any stuff that is inspiring or stimulating that tingles and tickles my cerebral cells; I  can - by way of a dessert - also slurp something titillating even, if not vulgar. I have read some and want to read many more.

I love a bit of pen pushing too - both small prose and simple little poetic flourishes - despite my very limited writing abilities. It helps me unwind and give vent to pent up feelings, deeper emotions, and anger and rage on the personal, social and environmental issues that confront us, most of which I share with you all and urge you to be proactive about.

Company of good friends comes next. I don’t have very many. But dearly love the few I have. It is sheer joy to spend time with them and enjoy their empathy, warmth, good humour, jokes (vegan as well as non-vegan!), anecdotes, free-wheeling chat on current events, some light banter, some gupshup and so on. The pleasure becomes manifold, if there is a good drink to boot.

I have long cherished and longed for the company of women-friends but have been singularly unlucky. Perhaps my overwhelming, blushing shyness has been the main stumbling block. (I do however have an enduring and mutually fruitful long-distance ‘exchanges’ with some of my ex-students, a few of whom have been noble, kind and sporting enough to put up with my idiosyncrasies!) I think the company of a woman of ‘substance’ and good learning, cerebral, enlightened, uninhibited, and not suffering from male-mistrust-syndrome can catapult you to heavenly heights of ecstasy and inspiration. She can trigger the flow of creative juices in you and make you do wonders in life. Conversely, a mean, parochial, conceited, suspicious, deceitful, hypocritical one can despatch you to infernal depths of doom and gloom. (To be dead honest, supercilious  women [and men] masquerading as 'religious saints' frighten and scare me.)  In the insular, conservative milieu that we inhabit, the former kind is a rarity. Moreover, in the present times when crimes and brutal violence against women have become almost daily news, the prospect of finding a truly enlightened feminine soul and striking a friendly, mutually rewarding chord with her don’t seem too bright.  But if  you do bump into one, go all out to woo her though I would be quietly very jealous of you!

Lastly, as my profile says it too, I adore my tipple: some 'soulful sipfuls' to round off the day with when I can give free rein to my flights of fancy, fantasize about and weave my utopias and be in my fragile but sweet little 'love-world'. 

Well, there is a lot more to write on my ‘loves’ but some other time...perhaps over a drink!