Fiction writer Dr R Raj Rao lives by breaking the norms, while yearning to return to the golden age of love

In my various writings, I have dealt with the concept of love. I have said somewhere that love is like a full-time job or occupation and like any other job, like that of an engineer, doctor or a professor, one is a lover. This is what I call the professionalism of love, meaning as you give your entire time and are dedicated to a profession, the same is the case for love. One has to be a dedicated lover.

NOSTALGIC: Dr R Raj Rao

Today though, I would link love and relationships to global capitalism. The fall out of this is that there is no time for love. In the '70s it was the age for not just socialism, but counter-culture, of hippies, drugsu00a0- basically it was rebellion-time. That sort of cultural climate was conducive to being a full time lover.u00a0

u00a0I have a theory of,u00a0 'heteronormativity' where the family as we understand today is a man, a woman in a monogamous relationship and through their sexual union a child is born. But today the alternatives are more obvious, single mother or father, adopted children, live-ins, gay or straight couples that break away from the norm I have broken away from the norm and this is how I've lived my life.

Valentine's Day is a commercial by multinationals that want to create a day to foist their merchandise on gullible people. Love can be celebrated for 365 days. Yet, unlike the love of today, I do hope since everything moves in a cycle, that we may come back to the golden age of love.

Dr R Raj Rao is a professor of English at University of Pune. His writings feature in the anthology -- Gay Writings from India. He has also translated Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Literature.

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