Dear Veer
12 November 2004. Your love story was open for the world to witness.
Each and every time you and Zaara shared the frame, my eyes were stuck on you, whose eyes were stuck on Zaara. I adored the way you looked at her, as if she was the most precious thing on the planet. I fell in love with the love you two shared. I’d have butterflies in my stomach whenever you held Zaara in your arms, with oxytocin gushing through my body every now and then.
The whole time my eyes were affixed on the screen, with an occasional moistening of my cheeks tinted red. I wondered, “Is a love so selfless possible in this materialistic and harsh hearted world?” I raised the same question which Samya did, “Ye kis sadi ke log hai? Ye khuda ke roop mein insaan hai yaa insaan ke roop mein khuda?”
Tell me Veer, is your kind of love possible today? You, an Indian, spent 22 years in a prison in Pakistan to keep your lover’s dignity intact, completely aware that your lover was going to be married to some other man, completely aware that Veer aur Zaara ka naam ek saath kabhi nahi liya jaa sakta. Zaara, a Pakistani, on the other hand, divorced her husband and migrated to a village in India to fulfil the dream of her dead lover’s parents, under the false impression that you had passed away in an accident!
I do not know whether a love so pure exists in real life, or whether it is just Bollywood, or if your love was anachronistic. But for those 3 hours and 16 minutes, I believed, in your kind of love.
You made me believe that love knows no boundaries, of caste, of religion, of country. You ignited within me a fire to love fiercely, you carved the definition of love for me, you taught me ki sach mein ishq aag ka dariya hai, aur doob ke jaana hai, you made me understand that in love, it’s one soul residing in two bodies, and for that, I am indebted to you!
Dear qaidi number 786, today, when people give examples of selfless, sacrificing and vintage love, Veer Zaara are sure to be in the list, and will be, for the years to come. Veer Zaara is love personified, and the fact that yours was a happy ending made me believe, “Sachchi mohabbat zindagi mein sirf ek baar hoti hai, aur jab hoti hai, to koi bhagwaan yaa khuda use naqamyaab nahi hone data hai.”
Veer, I do not know whether I should look for a man like you, nor do I know if there exists another Veer, but I will strive to be someone’s Zaara, and reach at least halfway there, because is love really love, if it isn’t like yours?
Yours,
Karen