There was a scene in Robin Hood when Little John said to Robin Hood, “Are we the good guys or the bad guys - robbing the rich to feed the poor?”

Those Rohan days, of letter writing, of sneaking around in dream world, I did ask myself such questions. “Am I the good guy or the bad guy?”

Though Robin Hood ended up marrying MM after King Richard returned and banished Prince John, I wasn’t that lucky. For Robin Hood, the outlaw became the in-Law. For me, the Enemy of the State became the Exile of the State.

But it is all good. Often our people say that after men had fought the battle, women live to tell the stories. Moses parted the waters but it was Joshua who went to the Promised Land. We cannot all be as lucky as the disciple. If you are not the chosen one, we simply are not the chosen one. I am sure Moses must be satisfied just seeing the Promise Land.

What really matters is that if we are asked, “What did you do with your life?” and we can, in all honesty, give the Robin Hood’s answer, “I spent it loving MM”, nothing surpasses that. With the initial MM carved on the tree or in a heart forever, it is enough proof. Hopefully, history will be kind to us.

Still on that song aptly titled Love, as I listened to it, I remembered lazy days:

• Of watching chapatti spread and rolled by those slim fingers that wouldn’t rub my itching chin.
• Of typing verses in that first apartment, verses made of words that lips can’t mutter.
• Of waiting for emails from borrowed mouse
• Of trooping to see You’ve Got Mail, an apology for quiet moment we can’t have.
• Of finding roommates when our roommate has gone mad again.
• Of watching soft tears drop on a fluttering heart...
• Of that first dance that lasted for eternity

“It seems like only yesterday
You were just a child at play
Now you’re all grown up inside of me
Oh, how fast those moments flee

Love will live
Love will last
Love goes on and on and on”

Happy Birthday, MM