CELEBRITY COLUMN: ‘Chocolate’, writes Maria Goretti

And if you asked me, what is that one crazy little thing that I cannot do without... It would be a tug-of-war between chocolate and love. I know that cynics who think both are so — Meh... would probably never get what it feels like, to bite into a piece of chocolate, let it just stop everything around you, and let you escape reality for a nano second.

In the same way, when you taste love, real, stop in your tracks, leave everything to destiny kind of love, it just changes something, inside you, and you will never go back to the person you once were.

So, if you could explain the flavour or taste of love, what would you say it tasted like? And no... No one is going to or should judge anyone here. We all have different versions of love, and it’s all good as long as the ones involved are happy. So, some may compare it to the super nutrient ‘broccoli’, no matter how much you consume, it’s so darn good for health.

I know my friend Kichie would say ‘potatoes’ that taste so good and are so satiating, especially when baked with cream, garlic and rosemary. A chef I know says nothing comes as close to love, like a juicy piece of ragu just off the grill. For my mom I think it’s a sizzling piece of pork, with the right balance of meat and fat. And a pescatarian friend of mine swears by the Halibut encased in a foil infused with just a hint of salt, roughly chopped fennel and chilli flakes, with a smear of vegetable oil, eaten immediately with just a squueze of lime and some melted butter. It does sound like heaven, but not yet love. At least not yet to me.

I think to me love tastes like luscious, gooey, non-fattening, decadent, melt in your mouth, silky ‘Chocolate’. But then you know that there is no such thing as non fattening in this world of real milk chocolate. And likewise, there are no trouble/problem free relationships. So, having made peace with that we can now chomp on a bar of chocolate.

The thing about love is that as over the moon as it makes you feel, it leaves a huge lacuna and the largest gaping hole in your heart, when it leaves or changes path, just want you to know FYI.

The funny thing is, I feel exactly the same when my stash of chocolate gets over from my fridge.

Yes, I do know too much of anything is really not good for you, but moderation is not my middle name, nor my first or last. I am a person of excessess. Like if I find a blouse I like, I will buy it in all colours, or then if I find irresistable teacups, I will buy extra, incase I break them. And I know I have many of you nodding in guilty acknowledgement.

Or then if you are anything like my friend Mona, she buys warm clothes to wear in Mumbai, if the temperature drops from 38 degrees to 35 degrees. And so just like all of you, my wardrobe and kitchen always have remains of the old and additions of sparkling new.

So can you do that with people you love? Keep the ones you love close and keep adding to that circle of light. Well, people are not things, and so you cannot buy people, or own them or be owned.

But you can love them, regardless of how they feel about you. Frankly, you don’t have much of a choice, about who your heart decides to choose. So, just like I don’t need my coffee mug that I carry everywhere with me to love me back. I know this sounds terribly Utopian. And now it’s an oxymoron. (Which is very different from being just a moron). But it’s bizzare that the most intelligent species on this planet, sets themselves upto expectations, that may not realise. Most of the time, I think that’s what kills relationships. Expectations.

So I think as far as love is concerned, we need to keep it simple, we need to love as much as we can possibly do, without holding back. Because most things bottled, ferment, and all fermentation does not turn to wine.

So when it comes to love, I know honestly, it’s no chocolate, that I can buy a stashful of again. Love cannot be bought and you can never force yourself to feel it. It is, just what it is.

All encompassing at times. And sometimes like volcanic ash, leaving a trail of destruction behind. So, knowing that too much chocolate is really bad for health, do I stop consuming it. Nope, not at all, I just run a little more. And that’s why the measure of love, is when you don’t ever really measure it.

So, I have learnt that what actually makes you happy in life, are the things you cannot buy and the people in your life, who are there because they want to be.