What is the deal with the human obsession with love and being loved unto eternity? Even the more dim-witted among us probably know that love serves merely as the primary ingredient in stories to fuel passion, murder, revenge, and tragedy, though not necessarily in that order. It is also featured in stories where a 'happily ever after' is manufactured so that it can be prettily packaged in fairy colours and pricey Princess costumes to be peddled to the gullible masses in order to encourage them to procreate within the socially sanctified institution of marriage so that the human race does not end up as an endangered species or extinct despite such a fate being more or less what we deserve for being greedy, rapacious, wicked, and irredeemably stupid.
Yet, even knowing what we cannot not know, too many run after love, convinced that it is the key to unlocking happiness and the perfectly sublime existence filled with tender kisses and teddy bear hugs, cozy cuddles and sugar-free candy, hand holding, and hot sex, long conversations and scented candles and all things loverly so that one may lord it over the have - nots languishing in a barren wasteland of a loveless existence filled with humdrum chores, demanding children and spouses, back-breaking labour and a relentless routine mired in the mundane, utterly bereft of romance. Never mind, that the papers are full of crimes committed in the name of love which far outnumber those committed in the name of God, which is saying something although it may be argued that even religiously motivated evils have their roots in an inordinate passion and adoration for the divine by rabid followers who have turned to faith having gotten FUBAR after trying their hand at doomed love or frustrated from its lack. Why then do we delude ourselves into thinking that not just love (of the maternal or filial stripe) but romantic love is all we need not just to survive but thrive? 
Girl Talk, which is inspired by splendid real-life love stories that blew up spectacularly takes a closer look at love and desire which has curdled past recognition into obsession and despair. It is about the females of the species long entrapped within the rigid confines of the love laws famously described by Arundhati Roy in her own Booker Prize-winning hot mess of a love story. The laws which strictly state who (whom?) you are allowed to love and how and how much. These apply to the male of the species as well but since the very beginning of time and possibly even earlier, men have been given the freedom to be as stupid as they please in all matters pertaining to love, sex, and desire. Sure, men have been victims too and wars have been fought over a 'fickle female's' affections but let us not kid ourselves. Men seem happy enough to go to war for less epic reasons and are perfectly happy shedding blood or semen for whatever trumped-up reason they can come up with.
Women unlike their male counterparts are damned if they do and doubly damned if they don't in the domain of desire. Feminine desire is seldom seen as legitimate, and it has traditionally been stigmatized and villainized unless it is employed in furthering the interest of male horniness and the spank/spunk bank. Punishments are doled out with alarming regularity and varying levels of severity for women who don't keep it in their pants as well as those who do. Chauvinism doesn't discriminate after all. Which begs the question, is love, sex, and desire worth a damn? For women? Or men?
The answer itself is as immaterial as it is simple. Because if we are all doomed and damned anyway, perhaps life itself is meant to be lived as we see fit, without fear of reprisals and endless recriminations from the culture police run by the morally dubious, incel types. Desire might be beside the point, but freedom never is. And choice must be available to all. Especially to women who have long been denied it. Admittedly, it is never smart to endorse stupidity but in the interest of fairness, all must have the right to be as stupid as they please. Even or especially if inevitable heartbreak, sexually transmitted diseases, and utter devastation lie on the other side of a runaway libido. After all, it is also known that what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. And perhaps, therein lies the key to evading extinction - a life lived to the fullest in pursuit of whatever floats your boat. Even if it is something as foolish as the demands of a foolhardy heart that will not be denied.
About the Columnist
Anuja Chandramouli is a bestselling author and new-age Indian Classicist, who has published 12 books across the mythology, historical fiction, and fantasy genres with varying degrees of success. Her debut novel, Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior - Prince was named by Amazon India as one of the top 5 sellers in Indian Writing (2012). More recently, her Mohini: The Enchantress was awarded the Times of India AutHer award in the Popular Choice Category (2021). She is a TEDx speaker, storyteller, content creator, columnist, trained Bharatanatyam dancer, dog parent, and mum to two snarky teen daughters. Girl Talk is her latest offering, and the author swears there is more where that came from.
