Love is not a business

 

Love is not a business

it doesn’t ask - what I get?

it asks - what can I give?

and the best gift a person can give

is their undivided time and attention

a flower offers its beauty, its fragrance

without asking anything in return

but like all beautiful things

it is fragile and prone to decay

it is not a logic of market

that thrives on calculation

it is a logic of home

that thrives on care and respect

if you want a society based on love

answer this question first

isn’t love exclusive?

does it not discriminate by definition?

how can you love a stranger?

you ask important questions

but you do not understand love

or love has not happened to you

truest love happen between strangers

you love not because you know

but because you don’t know

when something projects outwards from you

and is grabbed at by the stranger

and it doesn’t stop there

it moves from one to another

when the other was so strange and still love

then love can happen to others who are strange

but tell me what is love?

love is care, love is respect

love is a wish that the other thrives and flourish

love fulfills you without any reason

it gives without asking

without seeking acknowledgement

without expecting anything in return

it makes you blind to other’s faults

even makes you love the other’s imperfections

it may not seem to be wholly rational

but love has its own reason

its own vocabulary

it understands reason as a human construct

that is susceptible to revolution,

to paradigm shifts

i believe in love

because i know no better thing to believe in

and if you can see where I am coming from,

you too would see the ugliness of power

manifested in capital, machines and weapons

power sees human to be an appendage

to a machine, to a system

a mere automaton

that labours, eats and sleeps

but love is romantic at heart

it raises a person to exalted heights

it makes us humble, it makes us curious

and it is wholly human

it grows by giving

and giving is not a substraction but an addition

and there is not a joy comparable

to the joy of reciprocrated love

do you know what pains love the most?

what taints its sublime joy?

the state of the world

the poverty, the inequality

the fights, the wars

the neglect, the indifference

the utter absurdity of things

the folly, the stupidity of men

that those who work the hardest

are the ones who suffer the most

a group of women have to travel

long distances in the exhausting heat

just to fetch a pale of water

a farmer takes a loan to till,

fertilize, irrigate, protect his crop

only to find his work undone

by the weather gods

despairs and commits suicide

a child growing up in the village

learns the ways of his father and mother

only to learn that what he learnt is not enough

to lead a life of dignity and civility

it is not so that we do not know

we know this in plenty

but throw up our hands, mindboggled,

saying what can we do?

such is the destiny, such is the nature

or even worse, knwoing and still ignoring

surely, another’s problem is not my problem

living comfortably in our little bungalows,

travelling in our little cars

and working in our little offices

do you see the problem now

with the business as usual?

it is not a matter of resources

we spend them on cars and rockets

the latest gadgets and state of the art warfare

it is a matter of will

a river cleans itself if waste is stop being poured in

the villagers, the subaltern, the hard-working

will be better off, if left alone

the contact with state, the markets, the academia

corrupts them too and they too believe then

that money is the panacea of all problems

there are two opposing forces - money and love

and neither understands the logic of the other

money is restless, love is patient

money is insecure, love is sure

money is anxious, love is confident

money is boastful, love is humble

as long as the money is the business of the world

love will seem strange and out of place

since they do not understand each other

the one mistakes the other for insanity

in a society of love

there will still be problems

but they will be good problems

because love’s problems are after all love’s problems

and one will rather solve love’s problems

than contribute to the sickness of society

we are on a threshold 

and the clock is ticking

either we change our ways 

or nature will change it for us

a new world will surely arise

the only choice we have is whether

we want to be part of it or not?