Tuesday, August 21, 2012

happiness for tomorrow

Innumerable marketers are selling ‘happiness for tomorrow’ but ‘love market’ offers memories of the past... 

I pass by my ex-lovers, I would definitely be courteous to stop by and talk. But, I don’t understand the relevance of giving out a day or going to the extent of making friends with people who have deliberately been made a thing of the past. I would rather focus on making the present relationship better,” says 28-year-old Jaikaran Oberoi, who has been through a series of flings as well as serious relationships.

The nature of love differs across cultures and as scholar William Jankowiak observed, “Romantic passion is a byproduct of an interplay between biology, self, and society”. In a study to learn about the differences in Love across Cultures (LAS), it was discovered that the ‘Chinese participants were more endorsing of yuan (fated and predestined love) and the Russians were less likely to require love as a basis for marriage. While the Japanese agreed less with certain romantic beliefs, the Americans were more endorsing of secure attachments.’

However, no culture except the Vietnamese seems to have made place for the lovers who due to various reasons cannot be with each other. Though, the openness in marital relationships to admire the ‘old flames’ is admirable here, assigning a full-fledged ‘love market’ to the cause only hints at the society’s rules and conditions to temper down love in the very first place!