All we are saying, is give LOVE a chance – a non fiction love story

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I remember a time, about two years back from this date, sitting on a very comfortable leather sofa outside of a bar in Clarke Quay in Singapore and enjoying the freshness of the Singapore river. I had one of the most classiest people that I have ever met in my entire life for company. His name was Budi. Budi was from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. I had met him only a few days back, at a social event organised by Star Sports for the participants of a quiz being organised by them in Singapore. Both of us were representing our respective countries in the quiz.

Both of us being in our late teens back then, soon landed on the topic of love, which further led to the question of naming a celebrity couple that were well and truly in love, and were not with each other simply to occupy contemptible space on tabloids reserved for the gossip mongers of the society. Looking across the tall Singapore skyscrapers and watching the Singapore river along with the Clarke Quay sky change its hues with the setting sun, the answer to the question wasn’t very difficult for me. For me there was only one celebrity pair, that epitomised and personified the word love, John Winston Lennon and Yoko Ono.

People pictured them as the coming together of two very crazy souls, but on a second but deeper observation it is not very difficult to conclude that their love and marriage was the unison of two very vivid spirits, with creativity flowing down the last corpuscle of their blood streams leading to creation of a harmonic accord that breathed of only one thing, love. One can only imagine, how John and Yoko must’ve met. The world must’ve frozen still for the two of them, with a string quartet playing their best music in the background. A gentle breeze flowing through the hair of Yoko, and with each flowing strand of her black silky Japanese hair, John’s eyes would have been falling for what he was seeing. A setting from the screenplay of a blockbuster Sooraj Barjatya movie.

That is how artistes fall in love. And it is very easy for them to take it onwards from there. John was a revolutionary in the making, Yoko completed him. She gave him the spirit to go on and fight; fight, against injustice, fight against war, against corrupt political practices, and even take on the Grand Supremo himself, the US President, Richard Nixon. John now had a potency in him which he had lacked for so long. He wanted to say a lot, but ended up making Blasphemous statements including mentions of the Beatles being more popular than Jesus Christ. The Pre-Yoko John, was like an untamed high school kid who wanted the world to be his one day. Now his conduct was that of a an Ivy League College graduate, who now had the intellect and the popularity to control and direct the masses towards what was right.

The couple exchanged vows in a solemn ceremony in Gibraltar to fortify and commemorate their love for each other. The press was following them, and they did not spare the newly weds even at their honeymoon in Amsterdam. John and Yoko, who were fighting against the Vietnam war, thought of using the opportunity to use the power of media to create awareness about the injust Vietnam War. They opened the magnificent doors of their 20th floor room of the Amsterdam Hilton to the world media. Using their status as World icons, they stayed in bed(doing nothing!) for a whole week, with the press frantically photographing and interviewing them, and probably for the very first time, John and Yoko began giving solid ground to their campaign against the US Government.

Yoko, had also established herself as a contemporary conceptual artist, by creating artwork which she liked to label as music of the mind. Yoko gave John the rest of his voice. Yoko gave John a sense of belief, that John could say and do anything, without apology. This helped John channelize his efforts in activism in all the right directions so as to set up the foundations of a peace march that would soon gain a lot of momentum, and end up shaming the most powerful man on the earth. John had gone on from a frustrated voice singing nobody told me that there’d be days like these, in the pre-Yoko Ono days, to go on to say all we are saying, is give peace a chance. A catchy, simple worded song, yet powerful to the core. When sung in chorus, by thousands of men gathered in front of the White House, ended up unsettling even the cold blooded of all human beings.

Richard Nixon, made every possible effort to silence the now seemingly omnipotent voice of Yoko and John, but failed. He even tried deporting them back to John’s native England, but even that did not silence the movement. John never really went away. He, along with Yoko fought on, and eventually won the war on peace. Richard Nixon resigned, and made way for Vice President Gerald Ford to take up his place. Love had won, peace was finally being given a chance.

All through their fight against the Nixon government, John and Yoko reminded everyone of the perfect unison that they were. Sealed in matrimony, their relationship brought together two artistes, which eventually led to fireworks. Their passionate love for each other was obvious every where they went. The way John held Yoko’s hand, the way they kissed, the way John spoke about Yoko, the way Yoko spoke about John, made it all too clear how crazy they were, not only as human beings, but for each other as well. The victory over Nixon was the cherry on top.

John talked about how he always dreamt of falling in love with an artist, even when he was much younger. And when you meet the woman of your child like dreams, you are bound to be happy. And happy he was. Yoko made him more happier than he ever thought he could be. Their son, Sean, born 6 years into their marriage, was a mark of their undying love for each other. John even added an Ono as a second middle name. Even in times of rift, it was widely acknowledged that John and Yoko would soon realise that they simply could not live without each other.

Like all good things everything must come to an end. Their marriage and love, was tragically brought to an end, after John Lennon was shot to death by a madman, Mark David Chapman on a cold December evening in 1980 outside their New York home, which was fondly called Dakota. Chapman, was thought to be mentally ill, after it was learnt that he had committed the act after being provoked by a novel which he was reading. The whole world was shocked, but one person was more than disturbed.

Yoko Ono, went into complete seclusion after the incident, probably to heal the indelible effects of the incident. She came out, about 5 years later to inaugurate a memorial dedicated to John Lennon in New York. She also founded the John Lennon Museum in Tokyo, Japan in 2000. On October 9, 2007, Ono dedicated a new memorial called the Imagine Peace Tower, located on the island of Viðey, 1 km outside the Skarfabakki harbour in Reykjavík in Iceland. Each year, between October 9 and December 8, it projects a vertical beam of light high into the sky. Yoko Ono continues to fight against parole options for Chapman, who languishes in Attica State Prison, serving a life term.

Whatever the end may have been, the world looks up to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as two people who were perfect for each other to the maximum possible degree. Theirs is a love story which has attracted many a testimonial in the form of articles, songs, documentaries and even blog entries like these! John and Yoko, together dreamt of the world as a beautiful place to live in. They took on opponents who stood against this, and gave it their best. Together, they will go down in history as one of the most beautiful people, as seperate individuals and together to have bestowed us with their presence.

Imagine, probably one of the greatest rock songs ever, captured their spirit.

Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one