One for the Romantics

Chasing one’s lover at the airport, just before they cross the boarding gate, has always felt deeply symbolic to me.

I flipped through another page of my book while waiting for my flight to commence boarding when a couple, roughly in their seventies, sat down opposite me. They were chatting and giggling. The lady held a bouquet in her hand, and the man leaned in to whisper something into her right ear. She passed the flowers to him, and he plucked one out and tucked it gently into the clip in her hair.

Cute. Probably the only thought that crossed my mind… until it struck me that we had already entered Valentine’s Week.

I looked around and realised I wasn’t searching for more couples. Instead, I was scanning the crowd for someone running to stop their lover from leaving. Call me weird, but that’s the first impression airports etched into my mind through romance literature and motion pictures. Failing to find any, as always, my gaze drifted back to the couple in front of me.

The lady had taken out a tiny circular mirror and was tilting her head to see how the flower looked. The man pulled out his phone and clicked a selfie while she blushed beside him.

*

Chasing one’s lover at the airport, just before they cross the boarding gate, has always felt deeply symbolic to me. What goes through the minds of both people in the moments before they reunite thoroughly intrigues me. One of them trying to push their luck, hoping for just one more chance to convince their lover to change their decision and stay back… the other either completely unaware or quietly hoping for the same, turning around every now and then to check if they’ve shown up yet.

True romance. Absolute cinema.

Yearning will always define romance for me. Think about the impractical, almost unrealistic metaphors poets and philosophers have used for centuries to describe their lovers. Some compare them to the moon. Some to a breath of fresh air. Some to the petals of a flower. Others to peace and tranquility.

Visualise two people in a long-distance relationship who are about to finally meet in an hour after months… maybe years. Notice how the journey begins to feel stretched. How they count every passing second, hearts pounding in anticipation, wondering how they will react when they finally see each other. These are the moments when they truly understand what the other person means to them. The racing heart. The uncontrollable smile. The restless eyes scanning each station… are they there yet?!

I often come across active debates about the idea of romance. People passionately defend their own generation. But I sometimes wonder… has it always been somewhat the same, or have things truly changed?

“History repeats itself” is what I’ve been taught. And what better time to test a belief I have been carrying with me for years?

*

Let me take you back in time with a short story rooted in legend.

Centuries ago, there lived a saint in Rome. He is believed to have understood what love and companionship stood for, and is said to have performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were reportedly forbidden to marry under the Roman emperor’s rule. When he was imprisoned, legend has it that he met the jailer’s blind daughter. Over time, he grew fond of her, and through his prayers, her vision was restored.

But he could not escape his fate. Moments before he was led to his execution, he is said to have written her a letter, signing it “Your Valentine” as a farewell.

The saint I am talking about is Saint Valentine. In his memory… we celebrate Valentine’s Day.

For ages, we have found ample evidence in the works of geniuses like William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, and Mirza Ghalib that the use of metaphors to describe one’s lover has been one of the most powerful tools to cope with the insatiable time spent in their absence… yearning.

A lot has changed too! Writing physical letters… which, by the way, has survived since the time of Saint Valentine… gradually transformed into texts and voice notes. Waiting to catch a glimpse of one’s lover beneath their balcony or by the river turned into waiting for the phone to buzz… staring anxiously at typing bubbles and blue ticks. Grand gestures like crossing kingdoms, writing verses, and defying families evolved into surprise visits, shared playlists, and of course… running to airports. Separation, which once meant exile and sacrifice, has shifted into angry calls, ghosting, and blocking.

The modes have surely changed, but the feelings haven’t. We cannot predict what love and relationships will look like centuries from now, but what binds generations together is the rollercoaster of emotions we experience every time we step into… and out of… a romantic relationship.

And that answers our question! History, it seems, repeats itself… only in its own unique ways.

Love has always been sacred to the hopeless romantics. And for us to stay connected across ages… perhaps that is exactly how it should remain.

*

I am grateful to be surrounded by people who are in different phases of romantic relationships in their lives. I know someone who is happily married to the love of her life, someone she believes has made her feel valued in a way no one ever could. I have a friend who is just dipping her toes into relationships and is navigating the confusing world of dating and matrimonial websites. I know someone who has just fallen in love with his fiancée. I know someone else who is unsure about how things will unfold with her boyfriend in the coming years. I have a friend in a long-distance relationship who craves meeting her lover every single day. I have a cousin who has just come out of a breakup and is planning to travel, write, and give herself the space to welcome new people into her life.

The list goes on and on. But the one thing that connects all of them… and me, who is so unsure about his own future that he fears intimacy and involving someone in the waves of uncertainties that may lie ahead… is the emotions we share with one another.

Instead of getting lost in the shallowness of how different we are, we have chosen to accept that no matter how unique our definitions of romance might be, the way we experience and express emotions in romantic relationships binds us together… and hopefully always will.

*

They got up in a sudden motion when the boarding announcement began, leaving the flower from her hair behind on the seat. My eyes stayed transfixed on the petals, thinking about the significance of flowers in romantic relationships. From initiating companionship by exchanging flowers to hiding them inside books in memory of one’s lover… they have always carried meaning.

I shifted my gaze back to them. They were still whispering and giggling as they lugged their trolley bags behind them, walking through the boarding gate. For a moment, I hoped the man would rush back to collect the flower they had left behind… just so I could finally witness a lover running at an airport. But in the phase of the relationship they seemed to be in, they were neither taking their first steps nor preparing to part ways. And suddenly, the small role that flower had played for them felt insignificant.

They were in love. Somewhat similar to what I have felt a number of times… and hopefully similar to what Saint Valentine might have felt when he folded that final letter for the jailer’s daughter to find.

I left the flower where it was and walked toward the counter with my boarding pass in hand. Who am I to define what romance means to them? As long as we continue to feel speckles of it in our lives… we remain connected.

* *

And if you’ve made it this far into this little letter of mine, thank you. Truly. Take one more step and tell me what you thought of this article. Whether it’s a single line or a long message… I’d love to know. So yes, your response matters deeply to me.

Find me on Instagram at @ankeshkprasad or drop me an email at ankeshkprasad@gmail.com. I try to read and respond to every message because your words matter to me more than you know.

If you haven’t already, please do check out my debut psychological thriller fiction novel, They Would Die For You!
Available now in both Paperback and Kindle editions.