Of Valentines

And majestic, unsinkable boats.

It’s the festive season, and Singapore is gearing up for a grand Chinese New Year. I believe this is a beautiful start to a year, because Asian culture incorporates quite an exotic amount of celebration into your calendar.  Growing up in India, in a country with so many religions, races and ethnicities; it’s but a necessity to explore every new alley and memorialise every festival that comes your way.

 

Chinatown has goats!

I'm sure most of the world is currently awash in colours that encompass a delicious range of reds, pinks and peaches. Of all the holidays in the world, this week also heralds the inauspicious Friday the 13th, followed by the romanticized (and heavily commercialized) Valentine’s Day.  Anyway, before this post turns into a fact-sheet about the special holidays of the year, I must get to what I really want to say.

This Saturday, the day when most of the world suddenly realizes that their romantic partner/friend/pet is alive and existing and must be loved is also a source of annoyance to a billion other people who prefer solitary lives. BUT, we are humans and humans want to love and be loved and if William Shakespeare had not introduced the concept of “romance” into Literature, the world would have really been a dreadfully boring place.

Of course, reality lies in stark contrast to fiction, but if it were not for fiction, would you have been inspired to love? Would people actually step out of convention and dare to do the impossible - break all rules of society and chase a passionate forbidden love that inspires them to live? Well, it can be concluded that reality must have inspired fiction and fiction in turn has been dramatized and will always continue to influence reality. It’s a vicious cycle and I am glad to say you and I and the whole world are a part of it.

For those of us, who have found love and for those of us still searching, this Holiday should be a source of happiness because for once, maybe, we should appreciate the depiction of love in art and film and animation. It’s not everyday that we are able to witness a cinematic, yet relatable and moving love story. For me, this will be a special day because I tend to find immense joy in the success of love, be it real or fictional.

In the Common Tongue (see what I did there), we refer to our favorite couples as “ships”. Why and how this term originated, I don’t know and therefore I will give all credit to Tumblr. And even though you want to believe this is a modern slang attributed to any two people who look awesome together, it has actually been happening for ages.  So, let me remind you of those (fictional) people you have always loved (and shipped). Here’s an assorted list (in no particular order), for us to remember and reflect on:

Film

1. Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic) - *cry* The only on and off-screen pairing that I truly believe in.
2. Christian and Satine (Moulin Rouge) - *more cry*
3. Clementine and Joel (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) - What's not to love?
4. Harry Burns and Sally Albright (When Harry Met Sally)

                                      

Television

1. Everyone with everyone in FRIENDS because FRIENDS. If only the world functioned the way it did in their Universe.
2. Barney and Robin (How I Met Your Mother) - Okay, they played laser tag together, and even binge ate together - how cool is that?
3. Jon Snow and Ygritte (Game of Thrones) - *brings out tub of ice cream*
4. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes  - Oh shut up, we all know it’s a thing!

 

We so cool, we so freaking cool. 

Animation & Comics

1. Pooh and Piglet (Winnie the Pooh), Timon and Pumbaa (The Lion King), Marlin and Dory <3  (Finding Nemo),  Belle and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Flynn and Rapunzel (Tangled) - I don't like any of the fairy tales, they weren't even proper love stories. But these pairings were perfect because I honestly believe the advent of love is followed by a crazy motivation to inspire your partner to reach out and see the light.

2. Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist), Light and L (Death Note), Kinomoto Sakura and Syaoran Li (Cardcaptor Sakura), Goku and Chi Chi (Dragonball Universe), Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist), Risa Koizumi and Atsushi Otani (Lovely Complex) - Anime doesn't always depict love the right way, so I chose only duos that came close enough to mirror reality, and I love how they all balance romance, comedy and drama perfectly amidst all the chaos that is the plot.  

3. Kitty Pryde and Colossus (X-Men), Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler (X-Men Evolution), Rogue and Wolverine - I'm not sure about Marvel couples to be honest, they don't really come across as anything extraordinary to me. But I admire some of the friendship because it truly lives up to the cliche that love knows no bounds.

4. Tom and the gorgeous female Cat from the balcony and of course Tom and Jerry (BFFs) - We all know what I'm talking about.

5. Scooby and Shaggy (Scooby Doo) - So, what's wrong about EATING and EATING and EATING again with your best friend (even if it's a dog)?  

6. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, Lizzie and Gordo - just about every couple which gets out of the Friendzone

Well if you didn't, now you know. 

                               

Literature

1. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Lily Evans and Severus Snape (Harry Potter) - If you didn't want someone to love you that way, then something must be really wrong with you.

2. Jamie and Landon (A Walk to Remember), John and Savannah (Dear John), Noah and Allie (The Notebook) - Yes it's cheesy, and yes The Notebook is most romantic and love is great blah blah, but I think the takeaway here lies in the beauty of depiction.

3. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights), Jo and Laurie (Little Women), Emma Woodhouse and Mr Knightley (Emma), Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind), Count Vronsky and Anna Karenina (Anna Karenina), Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby (actually Nick suits him better), Pip and Estella (Great Expectations), Peter Pan and Wendy Darling (Peter Pan) - Dramatic, sensational, fairy-tale like and insane loves. Worth reading about, all of them.

4. Beatrice and Benedick (Much ado about Nothing) - If you don't like the other soppy Shakespearean love stories, don't worry. This pairing blew my mind, because not only were they witty, they were sassy as hell. This in my opinion, is the perfect kind of romance.

5. Aragorn and Eowyn, Beren and Luthien , Merry Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, Legolas and Gimli (Lord of the Rings) - I'm sorry for bringing up (un)conventional pairings but not all loves need to be requited, and neither do they have to include a man and a woman.

6. Lancelot and Guinevere (King Arthur), Paris and Helen (Greek Mythology) - All myths converge at the same point - the root of all wars is women, and the cause of all this is undeniably uncontrolled passion.

7. Hazel and Augustus (The Fault in our Stars) - *brings back the tub of ice cream*

Childhood friendship - best kinda love. 

Special Mention: Cat and Me (Haha gotcha! Nah, kidding I'd prefer Benedict Cumberbatch. Oh well, how I yearn for the unattainable.)

Anyway, that does not comprise all fictional (and imaginary) couples - in fact I did not even delve into films and TV Shows. Just got these off the top of my head.

Not all journeys are smooth though. We all know that nerve-wrecking, finger-chewing, hair-raising, teeth-gritting moment when our ships are on the verge of happening and then something goes wrong.

Something = one of them dies, memory loss, illegal or forbidden love, wars start because of them, one of them is an animal etc.

But I also cherish the moment if and when most of them have happy endings because it honestly makes me believe that even a love as fantastical as this may just exist in the real world. Also, not all of these depictions were romantic in nature, some of them were platonic and at the same time extremely enlightening. Be it a deep romance, a strong friendship, a light comic dynamic or an innocent love, romance has always been depicted with rich flavour and at times, dark undertones.

Strangely enough, the Internet and popular culture alludes to Valentine’s Day as a day of mourning for Singles who have no special someones. While some people are busy flaunting their disinterest in romance, some sitting at home with their pets, and some others  taking their lovers out for dates, I personally do not see why there should be a divide among them all. So what if it’s about romance? So what if you’re dating? So what if you’re surrounded by a bunch of idiots who are making this a super cheesy affair? And so what if you don’t care at all?

The belief that this day is for two people who love each other to go out without the rest of their friends, is complete and utter bullshit. I'm sure they have a day every year called the Anniversary which compensates for this tradition.

THIS is a celebration of love (and ships) and bonds after all. And this emotion knows no boundaries and no conventions. It’s powerful and makes you realize that the entirety of human civilization is always preluding happiness with love, and faith with friendship. While nothing in real life can amount to your imagination, something inside of your heart can always manage to convince you that if the desire to build such a love exists, then so does the capacity.

Therefore, whether you’re committed or single, this is a chance for you to shout out your love for everyone, not just one person. And I'm sure the creation of art, film and literature is for us to acknowledge how grateful we are to have loved so many people during our lifetime. So go out there and let this day be the advent of another billion years and more of eager fascination with love, and may all our favourite ships sail smoothly (note: ships which are alive) towards a glowing sunset.

That’s all for today. Have a great week everyone! :)