LAZY IN LOVE
Every year, as Valentine’s Day approaches and the whole world follows in the footsteps of America’s 43rd President George W Bush’s famous words, ‘you’re either with us or against us’, I too find myself in a predicament. Whose side am I on? Should I bother shopping for artisan chocolates in exotic flavours, and flowers for which you need a small loan from the bank? Or should I leap over to the other side to take the high ground – ‘I don’t need to prove my love with expensive gifts and grand gestures’?
Just like in politics, in love, too, fidelity is quite often under the scanner, I am told. It seeks frequent reassurance.
To me that seems a lot of work, tedious even, and definitely a point of worry for those who have a relationship that is not based on the strong pillars of trust and faith (I clearly have now taken the high ground – Chinese takeaway for dinner and the trusted telly for company. Not just a satisfying way to spend Valentine’s but inexpensive and convenient too considering now I won’t be making a lastminute dash to the grocery store at the petrol station for heart-shaped balloons and wilted roses at exorbitant prices.)
Having said that, I still enjoy taking on the challenge of doing a quiz, like the one we have on page 33. It is an exercise in self-evaluation, one we all should undertake from time to time to understand where we stand, whether in a relationship or in life, in general.
I get that.
It is the result, rather the conclusion, I arrive at after having spent hours pondering over
I won’t be making a last-minute dash to the grocery store at the petrol station for wilted roses at exorbitant prices
each question in the quiz that I have a problem with. ‘Am I really that needy, shallow, petty or unforgiving?’ My guilty conscience goes into overdrive reminding me of all the small lies I might’ve said, the truths I might’ve hidden under the pretext of ‘all for the greater good’. (Notice how I’ve taken the high ground again.)
Luckily, my other half does not like quizzes... neither does he like roses.