Over the next few days, we are to be engulfed in the swirling celebrations of love.
A wedding in India is the perfect reminder of the brightly coloured display of love, its nuances, the flash of festivities, and the sincere and profound, and, most of all, the intoxicating joy.
We feel it in our own love and in the stories of others in love.
I am reminded that all these colours originate in Nature, as birds flare their wings in courtship; in the spirited dances of animals as they chase and dance to impress and be impressed.
Vikram and Shweana’s (who happen to be wildlife enthusiasts) memorable week coincides with Valentine’s Day. These annual days, festivities, and events are in our lives for a reason; to remind us all to be Valentines, to look up from our AI-generated e-mails and thumb-generated text messages, and to the person, or people, we love, in appreciation, if only for a silent moment, hopefully more.
While the science is confusing, love is not a chemical-induced illusion, though chemistry may well be the language it speaks to our bodies in floods of oxytocin, dopamine, and endorphins. Nor is it unique to humans: long-term bonds, grieving, and, quite simply, ‘love’ can reach tenderly across the species barrier. Any pet owner knows this. Just because they don’t talk about love, as many of our own don’t discuss it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
As I watch the bridal couple dance to drums in Mumbai, skimmers float across Botswana’s Okavango Delta in pairs, and cranes bob in the air, love this Valentine’s.
It is a moment to remember what it is to be in love, again.
