Love Is Not Enough

Some love stories have it all going for them but don’t have a happy ending. I am going to tell you about one such love story about my close friends Anjali and Darsh. I met Anjali in 2001 at school. It might sound clichéd but since the time that I knew her well I just knew her journey would be the kind that people talk about.

She radiated this charisma that lighted up the entire area of her interaction even then. She was the popular girl in school, in high school, her graduation college, her MBA university and even the organisation that she last worked at. Its difficult describe the joy she emanated no matter what storms she held within. As we got closer, I began to understand that most of her charisma was a facade to a little child within who wanted to explore the world, be loved and spread love. She also had high expectations from life. She had been brought up in a well known family that literally had it all. Hence she expected life to persist that way as that was the norm for her.

She met Darsh during her MBA in Delhi. Darsh was tall, handsome and had a funny bone in him. He belonged to a middle class family, with a brother settled in Mumbai. Darsh used to tell me that he fell in love with Anjali, Bollywood style that is on first sight. He wooed her for a few months until she finally said yes and a whirlwind romance started. During this time, I and Anjali interacted on the phone regularly as I was studying in Mumbai and her in Delhi. I would listen to endless romantic dates, one of which comes to mind now. Darsh booked a room at the Fort of Fatehpur once for a date. It was probably the one of the best dates and time that they had together.

They were so happy together during that time. Birthdays wouldn’t be limited to days but a week of celebration. Nothing was done in modesty but with aplomb. Gifts would be obscenely expensive for a student. I would often ask them, how long do you think you can keep this kind of a lifestyle? Every year your expectations will rise, wouldn’t it be difficult to keep this up? They listened but I guess they were too happy to really see this as a problem.
Once MBA was over, Anjali decided to move to Mumbai with Darsh. Anjali got into a very well known organisation while Darsh, who wanted something specific, struggled to find a job for a year.

They had their fights during this time but were still happy and positive. When Darsh did get a job, they were so happy, so what if his salary is low they said, he will get promoted soon. Two years went by, I saw Anjali fighting more and more often with Darsh. Questions of when will we settle, when will you get a promotion, why don’t you change your job, is your job more important than our relationship would plague their relationship. Anjali would go in and out of depression during this time. There was even a suicide attempt. They broke up and got together quite a few times. She was not happy that Darsh wasn’t settled and that he wasn’t serious about getting married. Darsh on the other hand insisted that he was serious but required more time.

Another year went by and the Anjali I saw wasn’t the one I was used to seeing. No longer was she upbeat, full of life or excited about anything. She would go away to Delhi, to her family for months and work from Delhi. She expected Darsh to understand that she was slowly detaching but he didn’t. She stopped meeting him and then one day just left her job. We were startled to say the least; we did not see the storm coming. She told him it was over and left for Delhi for good. It took him months to realise that this didn’t happen in one day but years. He still isn’t able to accept that she left.

The best memory that I spent with them was on my birthday when they took me to this amazing restaurant that serves Chinese food. The ambience and the company made me feel so special. They were special together and I remember thinking there’s was the kind of relationship I would wish for myself. Now I realise, sometimes, love isn’t enough if not followed by action. Every bond, no matter how strong, doesn’t last if taken for granted.