Designer Anjali Phougat: Love is not just with being with someone, but about their happiness

For designer Anjali Phougat, love is more to do with how happy and fulfilled someone, who is dear to us, is, rather than them being an active part of our lives. She says that possessing someone is not her idea of loving them.

“Love, for me, is an unconditional feeling of happiness and fulfilment. Seeing happiness in the lives of those I adore is what love means to me. I am someone who does not believe in possessing someone, or just being with someone, just because I love them. Even if they are not an active part of my life, but they are content where they are, that is enough for me,” she says.

Talking about Valentine's Day, she says, “I don't believe in days. I mean it's just a little extra day and I don't just spend Valentine's with just my husband. We celebrate it as a family, with my daughter, my dog and my colleagues. It's just the way I function.”

She adds that love changes as we grow in life. “Love changes and grows, and so does your relationship with your significant other. More than love, it is more of a responsibility that comes in after marriage. When we respect each other and mutually coordinate, respect each other's decisions, that’s what love is for me after marriage. The idea of celebration of love is very beautiful because we should celebrate because life is nothing without love,” she says.

She adds, “Love is fun, and we should always have that zeal, passion, fun, and something that gives us excitement in our lives. My learning is love is about letting go, love is about detachment. Love is about not getting attached to something or someone emotionally. When we don’t try and control the one we love, the situation magnetizes, it gravitates towards us.”