The end of romance?

I love you!


They're all saying it these days --
in schools and colleges,
in parks and restaurants,
at workplaces and in bedrooms,
over the phone and through the e-mail.

They first say it as a declaration,
then as an assurance.

Even people who normally don't converse in English,
when it comes to expressing this primary emotion,
prefer 'I love you' to its vernacular equivalent.
Just as the way it happens in the movies:
the hero or the heroine will flirt in the regional language,
but the flirtation usually culminates
with the mouthing of the inevitable
'I love you.'

But when people say
'I love you' to each other,

what exactly do they mean?

That they want to get married?

That they find each other irresistible?

Or is it an ex-pression of affection or admiration?

Or an unstated agreement to have sex?

No one knows.


The answer is bound to be as
complicated as the definition of love.

But one thing is certain.

Ten years ago, when you said 'I love you',
no matter what you meant by that,
it was taken not only as a declaration
of love but also of commitment.

It was sacred as a vow.
And you usually said it only once in your lifetime --
to the person who eventually became your spouse.
And the pleasure of saying it was similar
to using a smuggled French perfume.

Today, you can get the same perfume
in the neighbourhood departmental store.
Similarly, 'I love you' is now a free commodity.

" Today,
'I love you' no longer means
you are the only one I love.
It is only an ex-pression of feeling,"
says psychiatrist

"People are in a great hurry to fall in love.
Having an affair has become a status symbol,
especially on campuses.''

So today, people are falling in love
more often than ever before.
And not just with one person.
Today you might be in love with someone,
but you are free to walk out if the relationship is
stifling and fall in love with someone else.
Unlike the days of the past
when only death could do you apart.

Does that mean the present generation
is less sincere when it says 'I love you'?
I don't think so.
"They no longer say it to express a commitment.
I believe they mean it when they say it,"

Perhaps, with culture and tradition,
relationships have become flexible too.

Take the case of my friend journalist
who relocated in metro a year ago.
Friendless in a new city,
he took to the Internet chatrooms.

There he met Girl, 18, a student of College.
They fell in love even before they met;
and when they met,
a passionate affair began.
But in less than six months,
she was gone, after having
declared her love a million times.

"I think she grew out of the relationship.
But when she used to tell me 'I love you',
I could see she meant every bit of it,"
says my friend journalist,
who nursed a broken heart for a
while before moving on -- to other women, of course.

Today, both speak on the phone occasionally,
like "good friends."
Sounds like a filmi divorce story!

But that's how it happens these days,
except in films where the girl and
the boy fall in love and live happily ever after.

"Rarely do we see a love affair culminating in marriage.
Often we find that the victim of an
unsuccessful affair soon gets into another one,''

I view this casual attitude of today's youth as a dangerous trend.

"When one runs from one relationship to another,
it becomes a character trait,
Only to be continued in future,''

So where does this leave love?

My another friend said,

''The word love means nothing to me at the moment,"
"But I know when I meet my knight in shining armour,
Then it will have a lot of significance.
At this point in time, if someone said it to me,
I would not believe him."

Why not?

The answer is simple --

'I love you' is no longer the smuggled French perfume.
Say it to any woman today and
She’s unlikely to be impressed
Instead, she's likely to turn back and ask:
"How many people you have said this to before?"

In any case,
no one falls in love with a
Tom, Dick or Harry these days
-- something that still happens in movies,
where a autorickshaw driver wins
the heart of a millionaire's daughter.

In real life,
it's among equals (something that
the strict father of the erring heroine
is looking for when pushing her
into a room and locking her up).

We see this as a natural phenomenon.
"By and large, we are drawn to people
Who are compatible,
Who we can relate to.
That's the in-built safety mechanism love has.
Unless it is an act of rebellion,"

So you fall in love with and marry
someone compatible.

After that what?

"As long as you are in love minus the responsibilities,
you are crazy about it.
Once married, the colours start fading.
Moreover,
where is the time
for romance after you have a child?"

One women who, 17 years ago,
fought with her parents
and threatened them with dire consequences
if they objected to her marrying the man of her choice.
"Now when I think of all those things,
it seems so crazy,'' she says.


Is it really worth falling in love?
For that, we have to first define love.
And that's not as easy as saying,
I love you.