The Power of Love: Bonding with friends and family

The Power of Love: Friends and Family

The ICC World Cup Cricket will come to an end soon. People who have witnessed the matches on TV would have seen a huge Indian crowd. This Indian crowd had come to support Team India only to show their power of love . It’s a separate issue that India couldn’t reach the finals but after seeing such huge crowd one just started wondering if India was hosting the World Cup.

This craziness of fans comes from a DNA called the “Power of Love”. It’s not that other countries lack it but in India it is extreme! In  our country, the fan following craziness is concentrated to a level of 80% by volume. In the rest of the countries, it can be less than 50% by volume. This craziness is something that I am going to talk about it in this story and it’s called “The Power of Love”.

The Sight at the Airport

Have you visited the T-3 terminal of Delhi Airport? You will witness that to drop one person a team of 4-5 people will accompany him to see him off.  If a son is leaving for higher studies to the US, a family of 4 including his mother, father, sister, and grandfather will come to the airport to see him off. And if it is an Air Canada flight, then you can see the entire state of Punjab. They will park their cars in the multi-level parking bay 6 hours in advance. The Power of Love is in play.

International departures one can still understand but what about domestic? If a newly-wed couple is flying to Goa for their honeymoon, you will still find a family and friends accompanying him. Thank God they are letting them fly alone. Given a choice, all these people would have accompanied them to the hotel in Goa. The see-off is a very emotional one. It seems, as if the couple is leaving the family forever (though it is quite possible in the future depending on the new daughter-in-law). A special packet of refreshment is handed over to the couple. This is to ensure that the son doesn’t miss his mother’s home-made aloo ka parantha. The moment this breakfast packet is opened in the flight, everybody in the aircraft comes to know that someone’s mom has sent aloo ka parantha’s cooked in desi ghee.

The Power of Love defined by “The Power of 4”

If I have to apply an algebraic formula to how many people come to drop a person at the Airport, I can easily say “x = 4y” where “x” stands for the person flying while “y” stands for the person coming to see off.

The scene at the Railway station

This is even worse. The scene can be best described by a phenomenon of Physics called Brownian motion. It is described as the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid resulting from their collision with the fast-moving molecules in the fluid. Brownian Motion can be witnessed at any of the Indian Railway stations.

From the picture it is very clear that you are the one marked in yellow trying to find your way out. The 3 main functions at any Railway station are – Finding out which platform the train is going, finding out if it is going on time and finding out how much late it is running? The blame game starts at the entry of the railway station. Seeing a crowd that resembles Kumbh ka Mela, every Tom, Dick, and Harry starts blaming the government. When will they improve the service and why so many people come to drop one single passenger are few pertinent questions? The realization never dawns on one’s self who has also come along with 3 other family members to drop his daughter.

Have a Safe Journey

As usual, the trains leaving for Bihar are the most crowded. You keep wondering that every train has a capacity of 800-1000 passengers, then how come there are 4000 people at the Railway station. Well, you can say that it is the Power of Love which is behind it. The Law of “The Power of 4” works here also in a 1:4 ratio – 1 passenger and 4 companions to drop him. A note of caution to all my readers – Never think of boarding a train from Delhi during the Chatth festival which falls 6 days post-Diwali.

Visiting the Hospital beyond Visiting Hours.

Paying a visit to the hospital to see a close family member or a friend is a fundamental right of every Indian. This is one place where the Power of love effect can be seen to the fullest extent. Hospitals have been successful in preventing attacks from viruses and bacteria but failed to check the inflow of visitors. I have heard about Bars and Pubs employing Bouncers (The tough-looking man with stubble and 6 feet height). But hospitals employing bouncers is something new.

Hospitals and doctors need to understand that paying a visit to an ailing relative or a friend in India is a must-do act. In case one fails to do it, he will be out of the good books of the patient once he recovers. It is a very sensitive issue! In the West, the patient is attended maximum by one attendant from the family. This practice is in existence in India also but gets defeated by the “Law of Power of 4” .

The hospital at the time of admission of the patient issues one family pass for an attendant. The entry of visitors is from 4-6 pm. But visit the patient at any time of the day and you will be surprised to see at least 4 people sitting in his room. The 1^st person’s role is to chew the doctor’s brain when he is going to relieve the patient. The 2^nd person’s role is to cut fresh fruits and offer it to the patient. The 3^rd one is a specialist in de-codifying the Doctor’s prescription and the 4^th person’s role is to update the patient on happenings at home like who all called etc.

Few occasions when the Law of Power of 4 gets defeated

There are a number of occasions in the Indian context where the Power of Love plays an important role. Few of them are:

Daughter is getting married and leaving for her new home. The “Bidaai” scene is one of the most emotional see-offs. You can see a whole lot of family and friends standing to say All the Best! The ladies are in tears while men are trying to control their emotions.

A close relative has left for his heavenly abode. The family has organised a “Chautha” ceremony to remember his good deeds. The whole hall is full of dear ones and one by one they all pay homage to the departed soul.

One of the family members is admitted to the hospital. You call one of the friends saying that the patient needs blood. And suddenly more than 10 people line up to donate blood.

That is what I call the “Power of Indians” driven purely by “Power of Love”.

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