Treasures of Life

Adolescence, teenage are the thresholds of juicy yet virgin youthfulness. At this delicate stage, if somebody sets in the mind, youth turns lunatic. Both boy and girl, feel craving due to the unknown attraction which hasn’t been experienced by them in their growing age. They try to explore and name it as love. Slowly they come closer, share more of time together. The beginning of relationship is exciting and adventurous. This is first stage of romance.

Like any fruit that is fresh gets stale with the time and loses its shine. It loses its glitter due to rough handling. This is the stage number two. This, second stage, decides whether the relationship grows or declines or even dies.

As the maturity of duo grows with the age, the journey becomes smooth. And suddenly on some unfortunate occasion they face Tsunami or an earthquake in their romance; which can be similar in nature to the recent earthquake experienced by the citizens, off the coast of Honduras.

At Honduras near Tegucigalpa, the Tsunami caused disaster. The stadium wall collapsed, sending people running into the streets. A bridge across Ulua river suffered major damage. Life of the civilians disturbed horribly. Nature became frenetic.

But such Tsunamis are not in our control. We can rarely ward off the outcome in the quakes of our romantic relations too; when the supporting walls crumple or linking bridge collapse. It’s the real testing time when these so called lovers have to prove the strength of their affection.

The time of turbulence is the third stage which decides the depth of the love between these foppish lovers, as they have not yet experienced running in the streets holding their pajamas or petticoats. If they try hard to save their love, employing all the lifesaving and firefighting gadgets and survive the disaster they can be called as TRUE LOVERS and awarded doctorate in the field of ROMANCE.

GJ Bajaj

Man is a social animal. I could not agree more with that statement. Indeed, we humans need people around us for more than just company; we need to feel loved and to love others. We are in desperate need of love relationships. In many ways, it is the love relationships in our lives that keep us going. Take a look around, the people who are coping best with life are those who have people who love them deeply. A person who is loved much is less susceptible to depression or suicide attempts.

The other day in the newspaper, I read about an eighteen year old gal who committed suicide and my heart broke. I kept trying to fathom what drove her to the point of death. Didn’t she have love relationships that mattered? Didn’t she have a boy friend or lover? Didn’t she mean enough to her parents? I blamed all the people around her, for being the cause of her death but I realized I had no right to do that.

I don’t know why that girl committed suicide but as far as I can see, man is a social animal. He needs to be loved and to love. If love relationships aren’t there in one’s life, living becomes hard if not impossible. Love relationships truly sum up the meaning of anyone’s life. I can’t help but wonder if that young gal was in desperate need of love relationships or not? And if she did find love, would she have resisted death that day?

Christine Johnson

Waxing and waning of the moon supposedly control the ebbs and flows of saline waters. The same rule is applicable to women. The waxing and waning of the mood supposedly control the ebbs and flows of their body secretions. Woman’s moods vary from no-moon to full-moon, i.e. from 0 to 100 degrees; hence these cuties are called as bundles of contradiction. I have tried to establish the hypothesis with some day to day examples.

Sweet, sweet woman sometimes is so sweet that you forget sugar ever existed. Same woman turns sourer than vinegar. Change is 0 to 100 % in her mood!

She is milder than milk; and when she gets intoxicated, she is stronger than whisky. Transformation is 0 to 100 % in her mood!

She gets crazy when she loves you. She gets venomous when she hates you. Wavering is 0 to 100 % in her mood!

Her bell tolls when she kisses you. She converts the home into belfry, when she brawls. Fluctuation is 0 to 100 % in her mood!

When she is afraid of the mouse she screams like hell, but in the matter of conflicts, she bellows like a tigress onto you. Modification is 0 to 100 % in her mood!

She tackles stranger he-man alone and boasts her guts for the weeks, but if you tackle some cute alone, she invariably tears you to pieces. Transmutation is 0 to 100 % in her mood!

She gets furious if you don’t respond and stays cool when you make amorous advance. Alteration is 0 to 100 % in their mood!

Her moods vary without any prior indication. Now she is soft and merry, after few minutes she may be sad; after few more minutes she may sing and sway. Most unpredictable creature! Hence simile of moon even doesn’t suit to her mood!

And that’s the reason we crazy boys love these moody fairies. A single dish, a single variant species can entertain you in hundred different expressions. All your hunger and thirst can be satiated with varying taste, right from bland to tang. This miraculous ‘all in one’ single dish, called as ‘woman’ gives pleasure like mix vegetable or cocktail juice; right from top(less) to bottom(less). What sort of pleasure? Anywhere, from cozy, rosy to thorny, prickly, for which all male community is mad! Variation being 0 to 100 % in her mood, we men are chivalrous.

GJ Bajaj

Mark and I had been dating for over six years and even though Mark hadn’t really asked me to marry him, it just seemed like that was what our next step would be. We did everything together, we practically were, like a married couple. I remember my mother asking me, when are you and Mark getting married, isn’t it about time now? And I just nodded saying, it would happen soon and then my mom stung me with her words, she asked me, why hasn’t he asked you to marry him yet? Is he still finding love or has he found it?

Mom’s questioning began to make sense. Mark and I had dated long enough and the two of us were at a good, marriageable age but Mark hadn’t popped the question yet. Mark had always been someone who got what he wanted and knew what he wanted and so I comforted myself saying Mark wanted me and that is why we were together. In a joke, I mentioned to Mark what Mom had told me and I asked him, So Mark, are you still finding love or have you found it in me? He didn’t reply but gave me a sweet, gentle kiss that was enough to make all my doubts fly out of the window.

Everything went on smoothly until last week. Mark walked in and told me that mom’s question about him finding love or not had been playing in his head and he finally had an answer to it. He told me that he did love me but sadly wasn’t sure about marriage. That was the last day I spoke or saw him. I cried for months after. I still haven’t for the love of me, figured out what went wrong?

Kristen Neel

My husband, Matthew was always good with English. He studied in Oxford and did brilliantly. The two of us met at college in senior year and I was amazed at his skill with the English language. To me, Matthew was a Shakespeare. When he submitted his short stories and one act plays, I’d eagerly wait for a review on it. His work was always made an example of. I always liked Matthew or rather admired him but I absolutely fell in love with him when I heard some of his love quotations. His love quotations stole my heart.

Matthew was so studious that I was sure he hardly ever took notice of me. In the summer time, I even enrolled into the same classes as him but nothing ever happened, all I got was a smile from Matthew every morning but even that was more than enough to keep me going. Finally, when I was into my last year at college, I had a parcel waiting for me at my door step at my dorm. The parcel was neatly packed and unwrapping it revealed, precious love quotations of Matthew’s compiled into a beautiful booklet.

Matthew and me went on to date and then got married and have 2 kids together. But sadly today, Matthew isn’t with me anymore; he lost a battle with cancer. But of all the gifts Matthew gave me, his compilation of his love quotations is the one I treasure the most. Every anniversary, since he left, I find myself wondering if Matthew would have had a new love quotation for me?

Jasmine Hosford

I have a sister and so I know weddings are awfully important to women. We guys don’t really pay much attention to it but for girls, it means something different altogether. They can’t settle for anything less than perfect. My fiancé is the example of someone who was planning her dream wedding, of course it did drive me crazy but what the heck? I wanted to marry her and I was willing to do it at any cost, even my own insanity! My sister was kind enough to remind me that I needed to get my bride a nice gift on my wedding night for all the trouble she was taking. I racked my head wondering what to give her and then my sister suggested several gifts, wedding poems or rather poetry being one of them!

I thought it would be rude to tell my sister that I thought her suggestions were rather silly. I remember talking to my fiancé and telling her about how silly some people’s ideas of gifts were and I mentioned poetry, to my surprise, for the first time I learnt that my fiancé loved poetry and infact appreciated it deeply. I had taken English major years ago and decided to put it to good use. I landed up writing several, very fitting, wedding poems and compiled them into a little book which had pictures of us from the years gone by. My wife was so very happy with the gift and I received a lot of loving for it! I can’t imagine me being as happy as my wife, if she had gifted me poetry. I indeed learnt the answer that night, to the age old question, Are men and women different?

John Anderson

I have read tons of literature and poetry and I personally don’t think anyone comes close to Shakespeare. I think the man was brilliant with his writing and his expression of love, romance, hatred etc through his writing is simply perfect. Till date, if I’m trying to quote something awfully romantic or flattering, I look up this book I have with various love sayings by Shakespeare. I believe, nobody has ever learnt the art of love writing, the way Shakespeare did, I continue to remain wooed by Shakespeare’s plays, novels and poetry. I can spend hours reading anything written by him.

I was just fourteen when my mom and dad gifted me with the works of Shakespeare and this little book that has various love sayings recorded by him. I still have a huge collection of Shakespeare’s books and I have read those, umpteen times. Lucky for me, I fell in love with a man who is equally fond of Shakespeare, together, the two of us have almost all the works of Shakespeare covered. We have a library filled with his stuff and we are looking forward to our kids reading these books someday. While I read bed time stories to my kids, I can’t wait for the days when I can discuss Shakespeare with them. Infact, my six year old daughter has heard me talk about Shakespeare so very often that one day while I was driving her to school, she asked me, Mommy, was Shakespeare your very first boy friend?

Jenna Peterson

I love romantic songs and can’t think of a better expression of love than song. When I was back in college, I remember how often I landed up dating the wrong guy only because he managed to woo me with some silly, romantic song. I am a sucker for romance and since I love romantic songs, I was easily wooed by them. Infact, when I look back at the yonder years, I am embarrassed at the amount of cheesy songs that I liked and worse still, I am appallingly mortified of the romantic songs I penned.

Now, late into my twenties and single, I continue to love romantic songs. For some odd reason, I am crazy about the latest “love story” song by Taylor Swift. I can’t for the love of me figure out why I like it, but I do. I have the song on my ipod, my phone, laptop and it is playing in my car too. I remember hearing it the first time and thinking, Oh my, how cheesy and before I knew it, I was humming the song and now, I just can’t get it out of my head, infact it is playing right now.

So yeah, Taylor Swift has got me thinking about fairy tale love all over again. I don’t know what it is about such songs, but I do love romantic songs an awful lot. I can’t help wondering if there ever will be a time when I will get over my love for romantic songs?

Christine Johnson

I am so tired of meeting people who are so needy or desperate for love. I am annoyed by the amount of youngsters consumed by the whole love search game. It is like, love is the only thing worth living for. I don’t understand why people can’t be happy single, why do you need a man or woman to make your life feel complete? I am single but honestly, I am extremely happy just the way my life is. I have tons of guy friends and I don’t feel the need or necessity for a boy friend. But there are so many girls I know who find me weird because I’m not playing the love search game.

I’m often offended by the tone and words people choose to use when I tell them I am single. I don’t get why I need, to have a need to fall in love. I think Single life rocks and I don’t want to waste my time being consumed by the silly love search game like other girls my age. My life is complete without the opposite sex having to contribute to it. I don’t know if you have watched the movie, he’s just not into you? I think the character Gigi in the movie, is a splendid portrayal of many women today. Indeed, there are some women so lost in the love search game that they have lost sight of everything else. I am so glad that I am content being single inspite of people trying to make me wonder if I am normal for wanting to be single?

Mary Johnson

Just imagine. Just visualize the world with a single gender, either male or female. Had the Great Almighty conceived and developed the world with single sex, it wouldn’t have been different than the vehicle without wheels, or bolt without nut.

When you miss our friends for couple of weeks, you become restless. But when you miss someone to whom you love, yeah I mean, someone from the cluster of opposite sex, even for couple of days, what’s your reaction? You start seeking her, calling her, and subsequently fighting to notch her up. You can’t endure the anguish of separation.

The reason is obvious. Man is incomplete without her and woman is so without him. Why you call your wife, a ‘better half’? In this phrase,former word is a variable. As in some cases it could be varied from best.. to ..worst. However our society, being highly cultured, uses the phrase ‘worse half’ as a murmur! Now, focus on the word HALF. When two halves are added, blended, we get ONE. It’s simple arithmetic. Same is an equation of man and woman. When they unite, they become one.

Still, we people violate the rules of nature, rules laid down by God, as the dragons make us drag on our differences. Ego enters the house. Misunderstanding settles there. Jealousy lingers, and ‘use of abuses’ come to add fuel in the fire. The same goody-goody society forgets the culture. In the friend’s disguise, foes appear to cut these better halves into two.

Legal advisers, courts, judges... are working day and night across the world to break the couples into two. But the reality is so pathetic that there are but a very few professionals and organizations trying to save the marriages from fragmentation; albeit it’s an ideal cause,divine process.

It’s an appeal to all the philanthropic leaders of our society. Tear-splitting is against nature, rift-slashing is against God’s wish. Sirs, come ahead, guide our immature friends to make, not to break the marriages. And it’s possible, if either of the spouses don’t count themselves as single individuals. On the contrary, they count as ‘one couplet’, rhyming in the same tune, shredding away their sham ego, both accepting paradoxical equation that: One + one =one, in love and marriage.

GJ Bajaj