Dear Love,

a collective one page letter to love itself

How have you been? Today, all in favor (and flavours) of love, we created space for you. All of us feel sorry that you are felt and acknowledged in big and loud gestures. Some people say that everything is fair in love and war. All of us disagree. We believe that kind of understanding of love inflicts and justifies violence. Some of us have experienced that and know that when people say “I am protecting them because I love them” it is seldom you and often fear disguised as love. In not being transparent to a partner. In withholding a conversation in the name of protection, innocence and fragility, your name comes up as a justification. You are misattributed. Some of us have experienced how you are called upon to control and stop us from questioning. You are misattributed. In imparting ownership, performance and convenience. You are misattributed. Some of us have also experienced when you are put above our rights of being, superseding everything. You are not there. You are misattributed.

Can we tell you how we think and share you from the little space we held with you? All of us believe that your embodiment is transcendental. You are like the river that flows. Without the need to return to its source. You are the flower that can be deeply felt without having to be plucked on and decorated. You come alive when people in love honor boundaries to be themselves with each other. Preserving each other’s rights. All of us believe that you are there when we show up in discomfort, distress, grief, and conflict. You are there ever more where no one claims you yet hold space for you. All of us believe you’re not there in binaries. You’re expansive. You embody the space where there’s accountability and repair. One of us says that love is not a performance it is a practice. All of us agree. One of us says love in places of hurt can dismantle your misattributions. All of us agree. One of us says that to be a lover is to be a fighter for persistence in repair. All of us agree. One of us says that what is grief if not love persevering. All of us agree. And why do we believe that this kind of love is important? One of us says it is for Begumpura to exist from our hearts to our lands. All of us agree.

---

Through love,
Aarathi, Akshay, Avani, Eera, Kalyani, Lalit, Pratyakshi, and Sheetal,
Third exploration of anti-caste mental health practices.