Love is a strange phenomenon. It is universally recognized, but almost impossible to define and rationalize. Sometimes love materializes in an instant, sometimes, it is gradually discovered over a period of time, and sometimes it never happens no matter how hard one tries. There seems to be, unfortunately, no chartered path to attaining it. To ask someone to fall in love or love some object is as futile as the labors of Sisyphus because one cannot labor towards love. It simply happens like an alchemical process with the right elements coming together at the right time. Adding to the mystery and confusion of love is the fact that the word “love” is the most celebrated, elaborated, explained, elucidated, and terribly misused in any language. World history, if read from a certain angle, is entirely shaped by love stories: Anthony and Cleopatra, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz, Napolean and Josephine, Prince Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson – to name a few. There are more stories, myths, legends, and facts about requited, unrequited, one-sided, tragic, obsessive, and divine love than anything else in world literature. We can know more about how love should feel than what it actually is. An educated man should, at a moment’s notice, be able to recall instances of love he may have read, seen, and heard, but hard-pressed to summon a single vivid experience of that emotion within himself. That is the tragedy and the paradox of this strange experience.
So what is love? The most common answer is that it is a new feeling, completely different from all that you have known and experienced. But, that begs the question, how are we to find something if we don’t know what we are looking for? This is the question the Thessalian statesman Meno asked of his mentor Socrates twenty-five hundred years ago. When Meno and Socrates were discussing virtue, Socrates confessed he didn’t know what virtue is or means. This troubled Meno. He posed the question to Socrates: “If you don’t know what you are seeking, how are you going to find it, secondly, if you find something how will you know that it is the same thing that you didn’t know of in the first place? Both these questions together form what is called in Western philosophy as Meno’s paradox. If you think about it, Meno’s paradox doesn’t make logical sense because we always keep finding objects or solving problems that we didn’t know of, however, in the realm of feelings and emotions, these two questions may still hold true. How are we to recognize such and such a feeling as love if we don’t have any knowledge of it? The Socratic answer to that question is simple. We can’t, we are only rediscovering such emotions from our previous lives. Since our souls are immortal, we carry traces of our former lives in the current one including our memories and epiphanies such as love. A classic answer from the master. But If you don’t subscribe to the Socratic model of the world, then you won’t be convinced of this theory. But honestly, we don’t have a better answer to this question since his time. We have no idea when someone we “like” suddenly turns into “love”, we have no idea if lust comes first and love next ( it is a very thin line indeed and we would like to believe the latter precedes the former), we have no idea why we should feel a special magnetic attraction, unlike anything we have felt before, towards one person and not any another. We better accept the Socratic answer, if we do not have a better one to provide.
Love can take strange dimensions too. One of the most intriguing and bewildering love stories of all time is the one between Dante and Beatrice. Yes, this is the same Dante who wrote the “Divine Comedy”, a defining work in the history of Western literature. In 1274, When Dante was nine or ten years old, he met Beatrice, roughly the same age as he was, at a Mayday party in Florence, Italy. He later learned her name was Beatrice – Grantor of blessings. When Dante wrote La Vita Nuova, “The New Life”, a beautiful work of prose and poetry on his love for Beatrice, he described the feeling that went through him when he saw Beatrice for the first time at the party. He wrote: ” the vital spirits that reside in the lofty chambers of the skull to which all the nerves report spoke in its astonishment to my eyes, saying ‘ Now your bliss has appeared'”. Nine years after this childhood encounter, Dante met Beatrice again on the streets of Florence, this time, however, Beatrice ever so slightly nodded at him in acknowledgment. That was the only tangible exchange both of them ever had. Time and again, over the years, both of them would pass each other on the streets of Florence, but not a word was exchanged between them; for Dante, however, she was the one, his beloved, his muse, his life. In due course, Beatrice married another man, Simone de’ Bardi, and Dante married Gemma Donati and life continued until Beatrice abruptly died, when she was only twenty-five years old. It is unknown if Beatrice reciprocated the intense feeling Dante felt for her. For Dante, It didn’t matter because his love for Beatrice was spiritual and redemptive. He adored her in a way, devotees adore their goddesses, and it mattered little if his love for Beatrice was requited or not. Some may call Dante’s attraction a foolish infatuation, a poetized version of a Hollywood romance, and nothing else, but that was not how Dante experienced it. He dedicated everything he did in his life to the inspiration he derived from Beatrice. He expected nothing of her; and even after her death, he continued to hold her as his muse. If this is not love, then one wonders what else is. Love at first sight and without any exchange of any kind between individuals, such as Dante’s, seems extraordinary but it is not uncommon; and for those between whom love blossoms at first sight, there is an unshakeable certainty that this person is meant for me. The countless possibilities of the universe collapse into the form of this one person. Such strong love can lead to strange consequences as well. It can result in life lifelong relationships or can lead to tragic consequences. Some of the gravest acts of violence are committed in the name of love, and in the same vein, some of the most profound acts of empathy, sacrifice, and compassion are possible in love. Love is a fire that can either nourish or kill with equal flourish.
“The Devotion of Suspect X”, a crime mystery by the Japanese author Keigo Higashino, is in reality, a deep love story. The protagonist is a man who is deeply in love, and it is love that permeates the crime and moves the story to its tragic end. A few months ago, when I knew that this book was being made into a Netflix adaptation starring Kareena Kapoor, I bought a copy from Amazon. I am one of those people who likes to read the book before I watch a movie adaptation of it. The book arrived on a Saturday morning, and I began to read around 8 PM the same day. I couldn’t put it down. By the time, I turned the last page, it was 3 AM the next day. I have not had such satisfaction in reading a crime story since the time I devoured Henning Menkel’s meticulously crafted Icelandic crime novels featuring Inspector Wallander a decade ago. The first thing I liked about “Suspect X” was the way it was translated: sparse, a good ear for dialogue, and a flowing narrative that kept the reader riveted to the seething intensity of the story. The deep characterization of Isigami, the Teacher, the book’s main character, is the novel’s highlight. He is an unusual protagonist in the annals of crime – a mathematician of the highest order, who has settled down in a mountainside village teaching mathematics to school kids. His passion is solving mathematical problems, problems that often take years and years of effort and focused application. He lives in a small apartment strewn with books and papers, and practices Judo as a hobby, to relax and focus. Ishigami’s life is driven by routine and clockwork precision. He is convinced beyond doubt that life like mathematics can be solved logically. If each situation in life can be treated as a variable in an equation, and if we can lay down logical and deductive inferences one after another in a mathematical order, then problems can be harmoniously resolved to whatever end we set for ourselves. If in mathematics A = B and B = C, then A = C is inviolably true, it should be equally true in life as well. This is Ishigami’s firm belief and forms the central essence of the story.
What happens when such a logically trained mind falls in love, especially unrequited love? How would such a mind process this deep and life-changing emotion, which by its nature is irrational and sentimental, into something that a rational mind can understand, cherish and live by? And how should such a man behave when the lady with whom he is in love is physically and emotionally threatened, in such a case what would “protecting” her from danger mean- not just keeping her safe from physical harm, but also ensuring that any consequences arising from such protection doesn’t touch her in any way, now or in the future? Just as mathematicians strive to solve a problem with irrevocable and final proof, can love be channeled mathematically to protect one’s beloved? It is this premise that makes Higasino’s story at heart quintessential love story, even though it is crime that holds center stage. Ishigami’s primary passion is mathematics, and even love is finally transcended by the abstractions of pure logic and order. One of the most beautiful aspects of the story is Ishigami’s one-sided love for Yasuko. There is gentleness, tenderness, and a protective sheen to it, and equally, there is intense obsession. While I was reading the book, I was reminded of Robert Frost’s poem “Devotion”, a four-line verse about what intense devotion to someone can mean. It is hauntingly beautiful and profound:
“The heart can think of no devotion
Greater than being shore to ocean –
Holding the curve of one position,
Counting an endless repetition”
Ishigami’s love for Yasuko is like this. He is the curve of the emotional shore unconditionally protecting the person he loves.
There have been at least four known movie and television adaptations of “Devotion of Suspect X”, and “Jaane Jaan”, the Netflix production and currently streaming is the latest in the series. Kareena Kapoor plays the role of the mom next door, ( Maya D Souza) Jaideep Ahlawat, the mathematics teacher (Naren), and Vijay Verma (Karan), the inspector on the trail of the murderer. The movie is shot in Kalimpong, a picturesque mountain town in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal. A good setting for a story such as this one. The misty surroundings, the gentle winding undulations of the terrain, and the laid-back atmosphere of its people are juxtaposed with the violent actions and intentions of the characters in the story. A murder is committed right at the beginning, and what follows is a cat-and-mouse game between the inspector and the mathematician. Jaideep Ahlawat has played the role of a love-struck mathematician well. There is brooding intensity and a studied approach to his acting. Scenes where Naren needs to balance his love for Maya and think of ways to protect her are beautifully performed by Jaideep. I could see the essence of Ishigami’s character distilled in Jaideep’s performance. Kareena Kapoor looked a little jaded, but Maya’s character suited that appearance. A single mom who has run away trying to recreate a new life for herself cannot be too bubbly and cheerful. Kareena personified the victimized mom well. She is a good actor, and I don’t think, this performance stretched her in any way. Well, Vijay Verma who plays the role of an inspector seems to be in the news more for his romance with Tamanna these days, than his acting, has walked through his role with minimum fuss. I personally felt his heart was not in the performance, but fortunately, the focus of the movie was not on his character but on the teacher and his neighbor, so it didn’t hurt the movie much.
Overall, a decent watch for a weekend. I do recommend the book if you like crime stories. It is a little slow-paced but special.