Any writer worth his salt has written on love, however it still remain a poorly understood subject. I thought I would try my hand at this subject and see whether I could shed some light on it. Touring the cool climes of Himchal I bump into a lot of honeymooners and young couples and it makes me think. Love is a very difficult emotion to describe. The Oxford Dictionary has these definitions:1. An intense feeling of great affection for someone. 2. A great romantic or sexual attachment to someone. 3. A great interest or pleasure in something. It is also used loosely as a catch phrase for all relationships. There can be parental love, marital love, filial love, sibling love and love in friendship. These forms of love are usually  practical in nature and though emotions do have a role they do not dominate. Finally what is most talked about and tomes have been written about, is the romantic attachment between a young couple. Everyone likes a story of young love (maybe not the moral police objecting to couples in amorous positions in our public gardens). Open the  page 3 of our newspapers and you will read the love and times of the rich, famous and beautiful. A lot of us enter marriage by way of the ‘in-love’ (some of us arranged then ‘in-love’) experience. We meet or are introduced to someone whose physical characteristics and personality trait creates enough electrical shock in us, to trigger our ‘love alert’ system. The bells go off, and we attempt to get to know the person. The first step towards knowing maybe sharing a cup of tea and samosa in the college canteen or tapari or a controlled date under supervision of our elders. We believe true love exist as shown in movies, as written in ‘romance novels’ like Mills & and Boons. The question comes into our mind, “could this warm, tingly feeling and sweet pain in my chest which I have whenever I am with that person be the ‘real’ thing?”  At its peak, the in-love experience is euphoric. The couple  are emotionally obsessed with each other. They go to sleep thinking of one another. When they rise, that person is the first thought on their minds. They long to be together. Spending time together is like playing in the anteroom of heaven. Unfortunately nothing last forever including the eternality of the in-love experience. According Dr. Gary Chapman, a marriage councillor,  studies conducted on the in-love phenomenon showed that the average life of a romantic obsession is two years. If it is a secretive love affair, it may last a little longer (the honeymoon period). In order to continue to maintain an emotional connect with your partner Dr. Chapman suggests the following 5 steps. 1. Words of affirmation:- Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment. “Things should not be taken for granted. If your wife has cooked a good meal then she should be told so. If you feel she is looking good in a dress, speak out.  Constant encouragement and appreciation should be there. Something we did naturally in the honeymoon days.  2. Quality time:- You maybe a good provider and earn a lot of money but what is the use for that if you dont enjoy it together. Quality time means giving someone your undivided attention. Not spending the night out with the boys. 3. Receiving gifts:- Gifts are a visual symbol of love. A gift is something she can hold in her hand and say, “look he was thinking of me,” or “he remembered me.” Gifts may not be expensive just symbolic of your love. 4. Acts of service:- Doing things you know your spouse would like you to do. You seek to please her, to express your love for her by doing things for her. It may as simple as helping her out in her household chores. 5. Physical touch:- This is the most powerful vehicle for communicating marital love. For some individuals it is the primary love language. Without it they feel unloved. It could be a simple caress, a hug or a kiss to communicate you still care for her. These have been described as the emotional language of love. Try communicating in this language and you will notice a difference.