Gujarati Love Quotes

કોરા પટ પર શાહીનો ડાઘો પડી જ ગયો છે એ વાસ્તવિકતા છે, પણ હવે ડાઘને બળપૂર્વક ભૂંસવાની કોશિશ કરી પાનું બગાડવું કે એ ડાઘને સૂકાવા દઈ એની આજુબાજુ ડિઝાઈન બનાવવી તે આપણા હાથમાં છે.

જ્યારે જ્યારે દ્વિધા થાય ત્યારે કોઈ એક્સટ્રીમ સ્ટેપ લેવાનું હોતું જ નથી. દ્વિધાનો ઉકેલ હંમેશા દ્વિધાના બે છેડાના વચ્ચેના કોઈ બિંદુ પર જ હોય છે. વળી

Children inherit the qualities of the parents, no less than their physical features. Environment does play an important part, but the original capital on which a child starts in life is inherited from its ancestors. I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul. Polak and I had often very heated discussions about the desirability or otherwise of giving the children an English education. It has always been my conviction that Indian parents who train their children to think and talk in English from their infancy betray their children and their country. They deprive them of the spiritual and social heritage of the nation, and render them to that extent unfit for the service of the country. Having these convictions, I made a point of always talking to my children in Gujarati. Polak never liked this. He thought I was spoiling their future. He contended, with all the vigour and love at his command, that, if children were to learn a universal language like English from their infancy, they would easily gain considerable advantage over others in the race of life. He failed to convince me. I do not now remember whether I convinced him of the correctness of my attitude, or whether he gave me up as too obstinate. This happened about twenty years ago, and my convictions have only deepened with experience. Though my sons have suffered for want of full literary education, the knowledge of the mother-tongue that they naturally acquired has been all to their and the country’s good, inasmuch as they do not appear the foreigners they would otherwise have appeared. They naturally became bilingual, speaking and writing English with fair ease, because of daily contact with a large circle of English friends, and because of their stay in a country where English was the chief language spoken.

I had become something of a bird man – a passion that has remained with me – and could tell a Himalayan griffon from a bearded vulture and could identify the streaked laughing thrush, the orange bullfinch, Tytler’s leaf warbler and the Kashmir flycatcher, which was threatened then, and must surely by now be extinct. The trouble with being in Dachigam was that it had the effect of unsettling one’s resolve. It underlined the futility of it all. It made one feel that Kashmir really belonged to those creatures. That none of us who were fighting over it – Kashmiris, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese (they have a piece of it too – Aksai Chin, which used to be part of the old Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir), or for that matter Pahadis, Gujjars, Dogras, Pashtuns, Shins, Ladakhis, Baltis, Gilgitis, Purikis, Wakhis, Yashkuns, Tibetans, Mongols, Tatars, Mon, Khowars – none of us, neither saint nor soldier, had the right to claim the truly heavenly beauty of that place for ourselves. I was once moved to say so, quite casually, to Imran, a young Kashmiri police officer who had done some exemplary undercover work for us. His response was, ‘It’s a very great thought, Sir. I have the same love for animals as yourself. Even in my travels in India I feel the exact same feeling – that India belongs not to Punjabis, Biharis, Gujaratis, Madrasis, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, but to those beautiful creatures – peacocks, elephants, tigers, bears . . .’ He was polite to the point of being obsequious, but I knew what he was getting at. It was extraordinary; you couldn’t – and still cannot – trust even the ones you assumed were on your side. Not even the damn police.

By living outside India, Gandhi had been able to free himself from custom and convention, and forge friendships across the gender divide. In his years in the diaspora he was close to three women in particular: his long-time secretary in South Africa, Sonja Schlesin; Henry Polak’s wife, Millie, since the Polaks and the Gandhis shared a home in Johannesburg; and Polak’s sister, Maud, whom he had met in London. Maud Polak was in love with Gandhi—this was not reciprocated. With Millie and Sonja the friendship was entirely platonic. He liked and respected them—indeed, they were among the few colleagues who dared challenge or criticize him. Saraladevi was Gandhi’s first woman friend in India, and also his first Indian woman friend. Their relationship was shot through with passion and romance. He found her stimulating, interesting, even glamorous. He was possessive about her, he wished to be with her as much as possible. The relationship between Gandhi and Saraladevi was never consummated sexually. But it seems it came very close to doing so. Years later, in an exchange with a Gujarati colleague about the merits of brahmacharya, Gandhi remarked: ‘I myself am a proof before you that sex does not discriminate between the young and the old. Even today I have to erect all sorts of walls around me for the sake of safety.’ Then he continued: ‘Despite this, I was in danger of succumbing a few years ago'.

Among the more important letters written by Gandhi in the first half of 1926 was one to his son Manilal. Still based in Natal, running the Phoenix Ashram, Manilal had fallen in love with a girl named Fatima Gool, whose parents, based in Cape Town, were also of Gujarati descent, but Muslim rather than Hindu. Fatima loved Manilal too, and was even amenable to the idea of converting to Hinduism. When Manilal wrote to his father about the relationship, Gandhi conveyed his strong disagreement, writing to his son that 'what you desire is contrary to dharma. If you stick to Hinduism and Fatima follows Islam it will be like putting two swords in one sheath; or you both may lose your faith. And then what should be your children’s faith?... It is not dharma, only adharma if Fatima agrees to conversion just for marrying you. Faith is not a thing like a garment which can be changed to suit our convenience. For the sake of dharma a person shall forgo matrimony, forsake his home, why, even lay down his life; but for nothing may faith be given up. May not Fatima have meat at her father’s? If she does not, she has as good as changed her religion.' Gandhi continued: ‘Nor is it in the interests of our society to form this relationship. Your marriage will have a powerful impact on the Hindu–Muslim question. Intercommunal marriages are no solution to this problem. You cannot forget nor will society forget that you are my son.’ Manilal seems to have asked his father to speak to his mother on his behalf. ‘I cannot ask for Ba’s permission,’ said Gandhi. ‘She will not give it. Her life will be embittered for ever'.

પ્રિય લોકો પરફેક્ટ હોય એવો આગ્રહ છોડી દેવો. કારણકે કોઈના પરફેક્ટ બનવાની પ્રતીક્ષા કરતાં રહીશું, તો એમને ક્યારેય ચાહી નહીં શકીએ. આપણે ક્યારેય કોઈને ટુકડાઓમાં નથી ચાહી શક્તા. એમની સિલેક્ટેડ લાક્ષણિકતાઓને પ્રેમ કરીએ, અને અપ્રિય બાબતોને ધિક્કારીએ, એવું શક્ય નથી બનતું. પ્રિયજનને એમની અપૂર્ણતાઓ સાથે સ્વીકારી લેવા પડે છે. એમની અણગમતી બાજુઓને એમના વ્યક્તિત્વનો એક ભાગ ગણીને સ્વીકારી લેવી પડે છે. મોટાભાગે આપણી પાસે બે જ વિકલ્પો હોય છે, પ્રિય વ્યક્તિને કાં તો છોડી દેવી પડે છે, ને કાં તો એની અપૂર્ણતા સાથે સ્વીકારી લેવી પડે છે. કોઈ બદલાઈ એવી શરતે કે એવી આશામાં, ક્યારેય કોઈને ચાહી નથી શકાતા. જેના પરફેક્ટ બનવાની પ્રતીક્ષા કે જેને પરફેક્ટ બનાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરીએ છીએ, એને પામી નથી શક્તા.

પ્રેમનો લિટમસ ટેસ્ટ શાંતિ છે. જેમની હાજરીમાં તમે શાંત અને સુરક્ષિત હોવાનો અનુભવ કરો છો, ત્યાં પ્રેમ મળવાની મહત્તમ શક્યતાઓ રહેલી છે. કારણકે કોઈ પણ સંબંધમાં એક્સાઈટમેન્ટ, ઉત્સાહ, અને સરપ્રાઈઝ બહુ જલદી ઓગળી જાય છે, પણ શાંતિ આજીવન ટકે છે. રોમાંચ અને રોમાન્સના ભરોસે દૂર સુધી નહીં જઈ શકાય, કારણકે એ અલ્પજીવી હોય છે. આજ નહીં તો કાલ, શૃંગાર રસ ગાયબ થવાનો જ છે. પણ શાંત રસ ક્યાંય નહીં જાય કારણકે આપણો મૂળ સ્વભાવ શાંત રસ છે. વર્ષો સુધી જે સાથીઓ એકબીજાને શાંત રસ પીરસી શકે, તેઓ પ્રેમમાં પરિપક્વતા અને પ્રગતિ પામી શકે. મોડી રાત સુધી ચાલતી વોટ્સ-એપ ચેટ, કલાકો સુધી ચાલતા ફોન કોલ્સ, અને પેટમાં ઉડતા પતંગિયા બહુ જ ટૂંકા સમયમાં ગાયબ થઈ જાય છે. વહાલના ઉભરા શમી જાય છે. મુગ્ધાવસ્થાની બધી જ લાગણીઓ બળી જાય, પછી જે શાંત અને સ્થિર રાખ વધે એનું નામ પ્રેમ છે. જ્યાં બે જણા વચ્ચેનું મૌન કમ્ફોર્ટેબલ હોય, ત્યાં પ્રેમનું બીજ અંકુરિત થઈ શકે છે. એક પણ શબ્દ બોલ્યા વગર કોઈની બાજુમાં બેસીને તમે એને સાંભળી શક્તા હો અને એ તમને સમજી શક્તા હોય, તો રોમેન્ટિક મેસેજીઝ કે લાલ ગુલાબનો મોહ ન રાખવો. કારણકે શાંત સંગાથ સાહચર્ય માટેના શ્રેષ્ઠ શુકન છે. જે વ્યક્તિ સાથે રહીને તમને ઘર જેવી ફીલિંગ આવે, એ પ્રેમનો મુકામ છે. જે ભાવાત્મક તોફાન સર્જે એ નહીં, જે માનસિક શાંતિ તરફ વાળે એને પ્રેમ ગણવો.

જે કાયમ અધૂરો રહી જાય, એનું નામ જ પ્રેમ. જે પૂરો થઈ જાય છે, એ કાં તો સમય હોય છે ને કાં તો સંબંધ. પ્રેમ ક્યારેય પૂરો નથી થતો. પ્રેમની તાસીર જ અધૂરપ, અધીરાઈ અને અસંતોષ છે. જે તૃપ્ત અને સંતુષ્ટ થઈ જાય, એ પ્રેમ નથી. એ પ્રેમના બનાવટી સ્વરૂપો છે.