Love Unbound

There is a popular joke on Father’ Day. It is attributed to be the most confusing day for the Americans, because 80% of them don’t know whom to wish and 20% are scared that someone will come and wish them. No surprise, if this joke turns relevant in other parts of this great global village also. Relationships grow threats, quite a strange phenomenon; truly hard to believe. Some time back, I remember to have read the story of an Algerian husband from the town of El Eulma, 340 km east of the capital Algiers, who has been carrying his ailing wife for five years. Salim married his wife in 1996 and they lived a very happy life in a dormitory in the school premises, where he worked as a security guard, according to Algerian newspaper Sunrise. In 2007, his wife went into a state of paralysis and became unable to move, speak or eat. Salim became his wife’s principal care taker. Thereafter he used to get up early every morning to attend to his wife and son, giving them breakfast before going to work. He cleaned the house, prepared lunch, fed his wife and did almost everything a man could. I’m not sure of the motivating force behind his commitment to his family. It can be anything from love for his wife, love for his son, love for humanity as a whole, love of God or love for his purpose. 

This live story compelled me to differentiate between pain and suffering. The strange thing which marked a difference in Salim’s story was that he is reported to have said that he has gone through none of these, pain or suffering; he expressed no regrets in life. Are all sufferings painful? Do all sufferings end up in pains? However, this is not the first occasion I hear about suffering and pain consolidating into love. World Literature is filled with passionate real/fabricated stories of divine love staged in real lives. Read the live story given below and try to understand love in its true nature.

This story is from Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala state in India. Thrissur Pooram is one of the most popular temple festivals in South India. In the very centre of the city there is the famous Vadakkunnathan Temple, which is said to have been founded by Parashu Rama. The temple situates in a fortified area of 9 acres. Around this fortified area there is the famous Thekkinkad maidan with 65 acres of land in its’ name. The circular road around this maidan (Swaraj Round) is the biggest Roundabout in South Asia. I gave a brief account of the maidan just because the story took place mostly in and around this big ground. There are only just two characters in this story, a mother and her son. Both are known to almost all those who live in this city. Lakshmi Ammal and her son belonged to an upper cast Tamil Brahmin family. They lived in Kolkota until her son turned 16. Their life was upturned drastically as her son Raju became mentally disturbed. Things became beyond their control and they returned to their home city of Thrissur. 

Raju never liked to be within the walls anywhere; he roamed all over the city and mostly this great maidan. His mother followed him all the way. Slowly, following her son became the only thing in her daily chorus. She and her son were virtually abandoned by their relatives. In rain and storm, in hunger and pain she continued accompanying him for almost 47 years until at the age of 67 Raju passed away, that too lying in the lap of his mother. No fancies of life were acceptable for Lakshmi Ammal and she continued living in the very same scenario where she lived more than four decades. She lived as a pinch in the hearts of the city men. Lakshmi Ammal Passed away in 2005, after one year of Raju’s death. Till date, this story of love and care remains unexplained in my heart. What I understand is that love in its’ true nature is absolutely unbound, irresistible, inexplicable and undefined.

Joseph Mattappally