Edited by: Lasya Adiraj
Curiosity didn’t kill the cat. No, it was the subject of its curiosity that did. More specifically, it was the cat’s inability to benefit from its curiosity that killed it. When left unsatisfied, curiosity is very much lethal. There is a time for everything and for the passionate and sprightly, the time for falling in love is nigh. However, before we take a plunge into the rapids of love, we must dip our toes and plan our approach. Thrilling as it may be, no one wants to wash ashore due to poor strategy, lungs full of water and a heart full of agony.
Our strategy rests on the eternal curiosity that has been the cause of great anxiety for every lover. “What brings two people together?” Is it a coincidence? Is it fate? Is it an intense attraction? Is it fortunate timing? Or is it all of these and none at the same time? We shall try to get to the bottom of this question. First, let’s survey people who came together and observe what worked for them. “Cinema is the reflection of society,” the saying goes, so our sample will be a few films I watched as a pretext for writing this piece.
Our first feature presentation is ‘The Lucky One’ released in 2012. A sergeant of the US Marines finds the photo of a woman he doesn’t know amidst the rubble during one of his tours to Iraq. Soon after picking up the photo, he becomes the sole survivor of a mortar strike that occurred very close to where he stood. As he recovers, he is given the photo back, his only possession from after the mortar strike. After no one claims the photo, he keeps it as a lucky charm. He is ‘saved’ a few more times by the photo and he becomes determined to seek out the woman in the photo and thank her once he returns home. Long story short, he returns, finds her, works as her employee and eventually wins her heart. Clearly, in this case, fate was the reason they came together. However, this is an artistic stretch. The chances of something like this happening in real life are slim to say the least. Something more concrete is required to settle our inquiry.
To settle this once and for all, we turn to ‘How to lose a guy in 10 days.’ A story of how the mixture of timing, attraction, coincidences, and sheer passion brought together the unlikeliest of partners. This film truly does a great job of capturing how complex the process of falling in love is. The pair in this film begin seeing each other as part of a bet, simultaneously and unbeknownst to each other. One of them tries to make the relationship last for 10 days while the other does the opposite. Eventually, they fall for each other despite the various challenges that their situations posed. This film espouses the idea that given the right circumstances and people, love can be made to manifest. There is still a great deal of uncertainty in this theory, despite its explanation being quite suitable for the film’s plot. This uncertainty is perhaps the reason why most people will put their money on randomness or fate when asked the eternal question. “There’s a certain joy in not knowing,” they will say. Perhaps, matters of the heart are best left to chance. Maybe there is no way we can make sense of the how, why, and what of love. Some would suggest that it’s better that way, that there is no love without the accompanying anguish, confusion and mystique.
So, what brings two people together is something beyond the scope of intellectual investigation. Keep in mind that this article is talking about the 24 karats pure love and not some casual infatuation or ‘fling’. With that out of the way, it would seem that there is no hope for the average lover. After all, there are many who have waited their entire lives for that love to knock on their door but had to, instead, settle for something they believed to be inferior. Some would call that the work of Lady Fortune too. Naturally, not everyone can have a perfect relationship. But is this elusiveness of love going to stop a lover brimming with passion? Someone whose exploits are fit for a ballad, a paramour par excellence. I think not, for such a lover will force cruel Lady Fortune to fold, force the right circumstances and timing by the strength of passion.
Unsolicited advice: There is a reason why Love and War are comparable, both are unrewarding for those lacking courage. If you want it, and I mean really want it, you will get it. It may be late for you, maybe even incomplete like it was for Romeo and Juliet. But in all its imperfections, it will be present, the love for which no sacrifice is too much. Concluding with Mary Jane’s “Go get ’em Tiger!” from Spider-Man 2, I wish you luck.