THE ANSWER

‘I love you’, she said perkily. Kissing her creamy cheeks he repeated the three magical words. In a somewhat serious tone, he added ‘Can I trust you?’ A puzzled expression coupled with webs of doubt swept over her face. ‘Ask yourself’, she answered in a rather disappointed tone.
This is not a unique situation as hundreds of ‘ I love you’ notes get exchanged among millions of couples. The flutter in the heart, the sparkle in the eyes, the joy on hearing his/ her voice and the sheer dreams weaved about the other person make us repeat these words on and off.
However, this is not love. I might sound abominably incorrect or grossly stone hearted for the comment I just made. We try to love people and wish to spend our lives with them. During this short or in some cases long dating period we shower our ‘ I love you’ as well as hundreds of questions ‘ will you keep me happy?’, ‘ can I trust you?’, ‘ Are you the girl of my dreams?’, ‘ will my family accept you?’ etc. etc. etc.
The list of questions is never-ending. The replies to the questions sometimes seem comforting and sometimes appear incomplete. The point I wish to draw home is that the answers to these genuinely crucial questions are utterly useless at this point of time. Whether she is the girl of your dreams won’t be proved by her hour long chatters over the phone or long sunset dates, whether he is romantic to the core or not will not be proved by the rose he gifted on the first valentines day, whether your family would accept her cannot be judged by mentally mapping their lives in one house... love, trust, acceptance and many other things we expect from the other person in our lives cannot be answered in words but shown through action. When she smiles after a hectic day at work and chirpily says the three words (after 5 years of married life), when he blows soft suds over her sleepy face on their tenth wedding anniversary, when she remembers your fathers birthday and reminds you about it, when she tells you everything knowing that you might pour your anger over her, when you call her mom to tell her how lucky you feel to have her in your life....you will find the answer to ‘Do you love me?’ and ‘ Can I trust you?’