Platonic Love

Parallel shades of love.🎸✨

Last time, we explored the fine lines between intimacy, lust, commitment, and love.

This time, we want to challenge a different idea.

Why do we reserve the word “love” almost exclusively for romance?

Some of the people who shape us most are not our partners.

They are the friends who sit with us through heartbreak.
The ones who answer late-night calls.
The ones who make an unfamiliar place feel like home.

Yet their stories rarely make it into our definition of love.

Perhaps it’s time they did.

This is one such story.

V S Uma started us off with a story depicting their platonic love, which Sriasweni beautifully continued through a moving poem that captures a quiet moment of inner transformation.

V S Uma Explores -Ria & Karan’s Journey: Finding Solace in Platonic Love

This post we decided to write about “LOVE” which has different shades.

“ LOVE” is a beautiful feeling. To fall in love is interesting . There is no age to fall in “LOVE “ too. It happens like a flow of river which no one can stop or control too. This feeling of being loved is enjoyable indeed.

Love in any form is always welcomed by all of us. Where there is depth with no expectations is the true love.

Love means liking each other , having attraction for each other, physical intimacy, respect , commitment and stand for each other always.

This type of love is what we usually get to hear and also see. Isn’t it? There is also another type of “LOVE “ where there is lots of love between each other, understanding to the core , helping each other in their respective difficult times.

Agreed !!

What is so different about this love ?

The Story of Ria & Karan

Ria and Karan were good friends since the day they had joined the college for undergrad course. They both joined the college as freshers. They both were introduced to each other through a common friend in the party. In the party they met lots of new freshers .

It was very exciting time for the students as they all had left their homes to be in hostel for studies for the first time in their lives. This was the first party as college students.

Karan was a fun loving guy who was very cool. Ria was also fun loving but was little bit serious type. The party was the first step of their friendship. It wasn’t anything special, but Ria liked the one liners which Karan told to make everyone laugh.

This was the first thing which she noticed and liked about him too.

They both stayed in the girls and boys hostel respectively.

As they had chosen the same course they found themselves in the same class and section. There were only 5 girls and about 25 boys in their batch.

Like most freshers, Ria found it difficult to adjust her new life in college. The hostel rules and food were not easy to adapt and adhere too. Yet to living away from home with girls of her age was exciting.

She shared her room with other roommates . During the first few weeks , everything seemed pleasant. It was fun. However, as days passed Ria sensed a distance between them.

There were no arguments or misunderstandings. They simply drifted apart into their own worlds. Each of them had their own routine, sleeping routine, friends ,work , studies. Ria tried joining their conversations and activities but somehow she always felt like an outsider.

This feeling puzzled her. She couldn’t point to a reason, yet she couldn’t ignore it either.

After spending an entire day attending lectures and completing assignments she often wished for simple moments of companionship with her roommates—a cup of tea, a casual conversation, or a shared laugh before bedtime.

One evening she was walking back to her hostel.

“Hello,Ria!” She could hear a familiar voice behind her.

Turning around she saw Karan jogging towards her.

“Wassup, Ria?” he asked with a grin as he fell a step beside her.

“Nothing much. Just classes and studies,” she replied with a faint smile.

“Tell me about it ,”Karan laughed. “I’ve got project work piling up too. At this rate ,I might forget what free time looks like.

For the first time Ria smiled genuinely.

That night after dinner, Ria stepped out for a walk. Her roommates were away, and she had already finished her usual phone call with her parents.

The cool evening breeze was comforting.

As she walked, she noticed a familiar figure sitting beneath a tree in the distance. It was Karan. A guitar rested on his lap, as he slowly strummed the strings, singing to himself. Ria slowed her pace and listened. The soft melody floating through the cool air was very refreshing. She slowly walked and sat next to Karan. Lost in the song, Karan continued singing with his eyes closed, unaware of Ria sitting next to him.

A few minutes later, he finished his song and opened his eyes. To his surprise, he found Ria sitting next to him, listening intently. “Hey Ria , when did you come ??Just a few minutes ago,” she replied.

You like music, guitar.🎸?. I love strumming my guitar , and specially when I feel lonely I sit with my guitar. Somehow it makes everything feel lighter”.

Ria nodded, “Hey, I like the way you sing and play the guitar. It is very calming”.

For the first time in days, she felt completely at ease.

After a brief silence, Ria began humming one of her favorite songs. Instantly, Karan instantly picked up the tune and started strumming along. Soon they were both laughing whenever he missed a note or she forgot a lyric. It was fun time for both of them.

Neither of them noticed how quickly the time was passing.

The distant hostel bell brought them to reality. It was 8.30 pm dinner time .

“ Dinner time already” Ria exclaimed, glancing at her watch. It can’t be!” Karan laughed. “We’ve been sitting here for almost an hour and a half.” They gathered their things and walked back towards their respective hostels.

As Ria climbed the stairs to her room she realised something had changed.

For the first time since arriving at college she didn’t feel lonely.

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Sriasweni Poem → A Quiet Return to Self

…….As Ria climbed the stairs to her room she realized something had changed. For the first time since arriving at college she didn’t feel lonely.

She felt the versions of herself buried,
beneath expectations,
assignments,
and the quiet ache of loneliness.

The girl who laughed without caution,
who sang before she thought of being heard,
who found joy in small, ordinary moments—
had been waiting patiently within.

Somehow,
between a half-forgotten melody
and a guitar beneath an old tree,
she found pieces of herself returning.

Not because someone rescued her.

Not because someone completed her.

But because someone sat beside her
without asking her to be anything else.

There was no promise.
No confession.
No longing hidden between words.

Only friendship.

The kind that arrives quietly,
like a warm cup of tea on a difficult day.

The kind that listens without fixing,
stays without demanding,
and understands without explanation.

In a world that often mistakes love
for possession,
for romance,
for grand declarations—

there exists another kind of love.

A love that asks for nothing.
A love that simply says,

“I’m here.”

And perhaps that is why
some friendships become sacred.

They do not change the course of our lives overnight.

They simply remind us
who we were
before loneliness convinced us
that we had to walk alone.

Platonic love is not lesser than romantic love—it is often the bridge that helps us return to ourselves. 🌿🤍

Ria and Karan remained friends throughout college.

They celebrated each other’s successes, supported each other through disappointments, and showed up when life felt overwhelming. There were no grand confessions, no complicated expectations, and no attempts to define their bond as something it wasn’t.

What they shared was rare—a friendship rooted in trust, understanding, and genuine care.

Perhaps that is the beauty of platonic love.

It doesn’t seek ownership. It doesn’t demand permanence.

It doesn’t need labels to prove its worth.

It simply exists in the quiet moments—a shared conversation, a comforting presence, a familiar voice that reminds us we are not alone.

Some people enter our lives not to become our partners, but to become witnesses to our journey.

And sometimes, that love is just as profound.

Not every great love story is a romantic one.

Some are friendships that quietly change us forever.

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Closing Reflection

Life introduces us to many people.

Some arrive as lessons.
Some arrive as memories.
And some arrive as mirrors.

They help us find the laughter we had misplaced,
the courage we had forgotten,
and the parts of ourselves we thought were gone forever.

Not every great love story is romantic.

Some arrive as friendship and quietly teach us how to feel at home within ourselves again.

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A Note From Us

After the beautiful response we received for The Fine Line, we knew we wanted to stay in the world of human connections—but dive a little deeper into the many shades of love with original artwork that depicts the article.

This time, we wanted to explore a form of love that is often present in our lives, yet rarely spoken about with the same admiration as romance. A love that quietly supports us, shapes us, and stays with us through different seasons of life.

That’s how this piece came to be.

We both express ourselves differently. Our thoughts, perspectives, and ways of seeing the world are not always the same. Yet, while writing this piece, we found ourselves meeting at a shared truth: some of the most meaningful connections in our lives are the ones that help us feel seen, understood, and at home within ourselves.

This piece is our way of honoring them.

The friends who made us laugh when life felt heavy.

The friends who listened when words were hard to find.

The friends who reminded us who we were when we had forgotten.

If someone came to your mind while reading this, perhaps that is the real ending to this story, share this piece with them today.

With gratitude,

V S Uma

Sriasweni