Romance

Usually,  the word romance is perceived in relation to boy-girl or man-woman relationship. However, romance has a broader connotation. It is an approach towards life, surrounds and  people. Romance is all encompassing and is not restricted by any boundaries – mental or physical.

A die-hard romantic has an emotional connect to everything. It can be Nature, it can be a work of art, it can be music, it can be a book of poems or it can be towards fellow beings. A romantic heart is a soft, feeling and sensitive heart.

A romantic is a dreamer too. A romantic dreams of a better and beautiful world. A romantic’s imagination can get tickled by things which may seem mundane and ignorable to others. It can be sunlight dancing on leaves  evoking a sense of wondrous joy. It can be strain of a long forgotten tune invoking euphoria or  tearful nostalgia.

A romantic holds memories dear. Being wistful, even without a cause,  is in-built in a romantic’s DNA. Even a cool breeze carrying the fragrance of unknown blooms can make romantics reminiscentive.

The ultimate is when a romantic falls in love. There’s a beautiful song in Hindi which says  “one who is in love has a smile to the eyes and a playful gleam spread over the eyelashes.”

Romantic’s heart flutters even while reading a passage from a book,  eyes moisten while immersing in a poesy of poems, an unseasonal poignance enveloping the heart while listening to the lyrics of a song.

In short, it can be anything and everything which makes  a romantic heart do hip hop. A romantic is  incorrigible! Incurable! There is no place for  logic or rationale in  a romantic’s  judgement or thought because a romantic is essentially an emotional being.

A romantic goes by his heart and may take a step on an impulse deemed foolish by others. But  a true blue romantic has  reasonings and sensibilities which are different and quite apart from the rest. For a romantic intrinsic human worth is the most significant and valuable. .

Romantics are generally judged as  impractical in their perspectives and decisions. They’re not the go-getters. They are the ones who’d rather savour life in all its sweetness. On a rainy day a romantic may spend the entire day sprawled in the balcony gazing at the dark clouds, humming with the beats of the rain, breathing deeply the petrichor arising out of that first droplet of rain kissing the earth and getting goosebumps over the susseration of rain soaked leaves. While the ambitious counterpart may find no time  to even  look outside the window.

The best about romantics are that they don’t suppress their feelings. They live by them. All creative personalities are romantic at heart and they know how to mould their feelings into exquisite objects of art.

We have a lot to learn from a romantic being not only how to enjoy and appreciate a myriad of mundanities of life but also to find beauty and joy in the littlest of moments. Romance is truly zen like.

I have often wondered whether romance has a deeper and stronger relation with being spiritual. I guess the connect to one’s core is also a higher form of romance escalating one beyond and above this material world.

That is the ultimate in romance. Isn’t it?