Since we're talking about love, let me give this masterpiece a permanent place. The "reply" to one of the love quotes I'd collected (when I was still doing my M. Tech), written by Amit:
Original quote:
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so
vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means
someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these
defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can
hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid
person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you.
They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you,
or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes
hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in
the darkness, so a simple phrase like 'maybe we should just be
friends' or 'how very perceptive' turns into a glass splinter working
its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not
just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real
gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.
Rose Walker, in Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaman
Amit's reply:
aaah....then again, you're missing the flip side, aren't you? Let me
explain....
have you ever been loved? wonderful, isn't it? It makes you so _alive_.
you go through life like a self possessed maniac, pushing aside
everybody that stands in your way of what you call goals. then one
stupid person wanders into your stupid life, and it's not stupid
anymore.
and she loves you without expecting to be loved back in return. she's
let down her defences but for once you are absolutely powerless. hurt
her? wouldn't even dream of it. you wonder how something so nice could
possibly fall for a moron like you.
love takes hostage. you live to see that smile on her face. oh anything
does, as long as you can make her weak in her knees. funny thing, it
doesn't take too much effort either. you do dumb things like bring home
a drooping flower and she treats you like you've vanquished the dragon
of eden.
[true, you didn't ask for it. then again neither would you have got it
by asking for it. you might even say you don't want it and yet you'll do
dumber things like kissing her]
It's not imagination. It's not your mind. It breathes. its that real,
soul-soaking, gets-inside-you-and-fills-you-up-completely feeling of
utter bliss. i love love. couldn't dream of life without.
-Amit Butala (circa 2001, @approx 2:00 as he waits for his code to
compile)
