On Love and Madness

Love, or the instinct of reproduction can be quantitatively defined as the force of attraction between two sexually charged bodies. The magnitude of this force is
|F|= kA₁A₂/r²
where k is the constant of social approval, A is inertia of attractiveness and r is the emotional distance b/w the two bodies.

I liken love to drug addiction.We want love. But do we need love?

People can be then classified into three categories-

1. Pre-addiction idealists


2. High on love junkies


3. Cravers

Remember the ol' teenage days? When love was in books and films alone? When we were untouched by emotions yet wanted filmy love? Those who have never received the "gift" of love are idealists, after all. Ask any kid. Love is divine, they'd say. Mills and Boon thrive on their fantasising young fans whose wild imagination is fired by "happily ever after" junk. Taking the addiction analog these young minds are forever attracted to the dunhill and classic milds packets on display and the high other addicts get. Matter of time now...

Love enters your heart and makes it beat faster. So does nicotine- Vaso constiction.
They say the first cigarette hits you the hardest. I suppose the same goes for first love. Unimaginable high, Ecstasy guaranteed.Life is wonderful and nothing is impossible. As long as the supply of love is continued, the dealer(beloved) holds the junkie in his fist.The one in love will go to any length to please him/her, for that look of love.... The only advantage of being addicted to love is that these are dealers and addicts all around you. Love is cheap.

So what happens when the supply is cut off? Common withdrawal symptoms include weight fluctuations, depression, insomnia, mental pain and lethargy-also shown by former drug addicts.

So why don't we have love rehabs? Beats me.

Love addiction can be at various stages. I classify them on the basis of symptoms.

• Nicotine Love- "The slow killer". It always starts with dating. At first, there is one partner, an sentimental bond, breakup and a recovery/mourning period.They say the first cigarette hits you the hardest. As the addiction progresses, "chain smoking" sets in as the emotional aspect is lost and mourning is short. The lovaholic is no longer capable of a single life. The long-term effects are heart problems and cancerous growth of emotion related brain cells, causing overproduction of tears and depression. Quitting is easiest in the beginning, impossible in the end.

• Weed Love- This is similar to having a taste for call girls, gigolos and one night stands.Dum maaro dum....... Use may be suspended but come on, nobody really gives it up.


• Morphine love- Give them the doctor prescribed narcotic. Small doses, wondersleep. Large doses, euphoria, even death. Morphine love is the craving for commitment and intoxication, quite like the rancid love leftovers of a long marriage. Other symptoms include weight issues(from all the comfort food) and hormonal imbalances. Disillusion turns people into heavy lidded zombies

• L.S.D Love- The major sign of this addiction is hallucination and day-dreams. False visions of success, romance and happiness plague patients who end up doing silly things like jumping off cliffs or cutting their wrists. Acid love is highly potent and dangerous as it robs the patient of his sense of reality. It is a form of hero worship which blinds the user and makes him/her incapable of acknowledging flaws in their partner. So, a cheating,lying unemployed loser becomes a sensitive artist who doesn't like to hurt his partner with the harsh truth. Common among those in the early stages of their relationships, especially relationship-virgins.

• Heroin Love- Diacetyl morphine or smack gives no high, it just hooks the uses to it, people who turn to smack with expectations are crushed. Heroin slows down the body functions. This addiction is quite like marriage, it turns hope into despair and unfulfilled commitments. Symptoms include tremors, hyperactivity(read:excessive talking) respiratory distress(hyperventilation) and convulsions.

• Cocaine love- You are young, at the peak of a satisfying relationship. You have the partner of your dreams and are overwhelmed by intense feelings. Not a day passes without a long telephonic conversation, IMs or a romantic rendezvous. Nights are spent tossing in bed, dreaming about the One. Familiar? I regret to inform you that you are addicted to crack. The curios thing about cocaine is that it gives an ultimate high only once, the first time. Cocaine love is the same, only once does the addict experience joy. Now, for the symptoms. Cocaine love causes depression(what doesn't??), irregularity in heart rate(fluttering) loss of appetite, idea of persecution and often violent behavior. Quite a catch eh? Psychologists thrive on these love struck people who lose their self worth and may develop suspisions. I'm sure you can imagine what happens when the supply of cocaine love is stopped.

What is your addiction status?Are you blowing smoke rings, snorting, using an ice breaker or taking in vapours?Or did you trade your craving for love for an addiction to plant extracts? Hey, its natural. As the great poet and play-write Shakespeare said, it is better to have smoked and quit than never smoked at all.