'love all'

" I've always believed in numbers. In the equations and logics that lead to reason. But after a lifetime of such pursuits, I ask, what truly is logic? Who decides reason? My quest has taken me through physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. And I have made the most important discovery of my career.The most important discovery of my life. It is only in the mysterious equations of love, that any logical reasons can be found."

- Prof. John Nash (Nobel prize winner)

A couple of years ago, I watched 'A Beautiful Mind' and this final scene, performed beautifully by Russell Crowe got a lump in my throat. And a few days back, I was again reminded of this timeless line. I've always been a bindaaz guy all my life, right through school to college. But I've also believed in all things logical. If anything defies logic, it probably shouldn't be. But then life never ceases to throw surprises. Just when you thought that this is it, it couldn't be any other way, something or someone comes your way, proving your entire theory wrong in a fraction of a second. And the only thing that can really move mountains, in my opinion, is love. If you assume that love is that which you see in mushy movies, then it's not the love I'm talking about. Love is an unconditional, unfettered connection between you and something that your heart reaches out for. Need not always be the 'man-woman' kind of love. It's a passionate longing for something, that cannot die, no matter what. All these words - faith, understanding, even anger, are different avatars of love. And if you scratch the surface deep enough, you'll realize that almost everything that we boast of today, in terms of progress and technology, has it's roots in this one emotion. Because you cannot move forward unless you have the love for it. You cannot achieve big things in love, unless you start by loving that very thought. And maybe that's why it's a good thing that love isn't measurable. Because anything measurable has a limit. An ending point. But this is the only emotion that is as immense as space. Timeless. Boundless. When my daughter says 'appa, I love you', she's just holding a tiny cup of this emotion in her hand and showing it to me. But when after a hard day's work, she comes running to me and hugs me tight, I'm literally drowned in it. When Anu asks longingly, 'when are you coming home?' I can literally swim in that sentence. When I see the objects of desire that anyone has designed, be it electronic or mechanical, I can picture the love of that designer for the product. In the intricate details of it.

Which brings to my mind another line from the movie 'Contact' where Mathew McConnaughy asks Jodie Foster, a space scientist who believes in logic and maths. 'Do you love your dead father?" She nods her head positively. And then he says, 'prove it'.