Love is Blind-II

This post has been in the wings for such a long time now that my thoughts have undergone several revisions since then, and I may be a little repetitive to some too, especially after the last impromptu poem. But write I still must, for the inspiration comes from several unrelated events and blogs around me that have recently got me thinking, and personal as well as shared/witnessed experiences fill me with musings that must be vomited.
So, love is blind, they say, or blinding, as some of my friends would prefer. Yet zillions of words and gazillions of hours have paid tribute to the wonders and blunders of love since forever and always will. This blog, of course, is no exception. I've also been a semblance of a hopeless romantic at times, but the point of this post is another take at THE question...is love really blind? Strictly speaking and if you think about it (or read arguments as in this poem) you'd agree more or less that love by itself is a liberating thing, something that makes you see the beauty in the world around you and in yourself, something that makes you see the shades of life better, something that helps you know yourself and be yourself to some extent. This is what poets call the magic of love; this is but a part of the beautiful irrationality that is love. I don't claim to know what love is, but I can still claim to be very familiar with the irrationality, the rationale-of-it's-own that love seems to have that is called by the eyes of sanity, blindness. There are several real examples I could quote to support from my life, my friends' lives and others that I've witnessed, and of course there're these to read if you want. Yet I get the feeling most of us have examples of our own, and thus know the point to which I'm getting to, which essentially is the question that has made me think a lot in the last year, but never with success.

What is it about love, or is it love itself, that makes us "choose" certain amount of pain, hardship, hurt etc for ourselves? What is it about love that we defy nature's law of taking the path of least resistance and most stability and bring upon ourselves despair, pain and tears even when we do have an option?

Think of it, most of the part of "love" and relationships that brings constant pain and hurt to us could be got rid of, yet we don't! We get opportunities at times to avenge/to pay back for/to hurt back the person who's hurt us before, yet, in love, we don't. We choose not to. True love does something to our narcissism, selfishness and self-preservation instincts. Doesn't take them way, but allows them to be superceded at times. Allows people to question us "tujhe usmein dikhta kya hai?" or "why do you put up with so much without complaining?" when we have nothing to answer.

I have a couple of friends, very much in love till some time back, and then distance + series of adverse circumstances made the guy lot cruel and bitter, till he started mistreating her, regularly hurting her without apology, blaming, fighting and even acknowledging a lack of love. Yet her love was unwavering and she persisted. For the life of me I couldn't understand why wouldn't she put an end to her continuous misery and give up on he who clearly no longer cared. But heart of hearts I also knew, perhaps if I were her, I might have done the same, in hope or in patience, in foolishness or in love. In fact I have felt that compelling force within me before, that makes you not want to quit, to hope despite unbearable hurt, and to have faith in the golden moments that are past till the end of your life. A desire to get back the lost love was so compelling that not forgiving and not forgetting everything evil that transpired wasnt even as option. And whatever you may say, that one part about love is beautiful. It's the only emotion, perhaps, that makes you crush your own ego so ruthlessly and easily.

Love allows us to be foolish, to forget 100 tears for one smile, a dozen mean acts for one caring gesture; it allows us to do the same mistake again and again with unfailing trust. Love is what makes me actually let go the love of my life away from me when he says he's bored of me.

And the sane world around us sits back and says, love has made you blind. In our hearts, or perhaps in our minds, we do know what they're saying is right from their reckoning, but dil hai ki manta nahi, hai naAnd dil nahi mantaa for as long as love stays; when love disappears several of these overlooked acts come back to us as anger and grief, pain and regret. And then we also say, love is blind.

Until we fall in love again, that is.