Isn't this something? A while ago, a local newspaper reported that Top Cops in the city have apparently advised their juniors not to harass couples in love. No going around growling at cosy twosomes, no putting them through an aggressive third degree treatment, or frightening them into making hurried exits by twirling threatening lathis in their vicinity.

Given this current atmosphere of near psychotic touchiness and constant censure over everything, how refreshing it is to come across authority figures in whom the milk of human kindness hasn't completely curdled into a thick lump.

You wonder briefly if Chennai is easier on Love than Madras was, then decide that is being a tad presumptuous, like falling into that sly old trap – the stereotype.

It's enough to know that Love is able to breathe a little free here, seeking out nooks and corners, as it has done since the beginning of Time.

Love darts down streets, making sure it doesn't fall flat on its face on uneven pavements, or trip headlong into a sudden, completely unexplained pothole. It ambles around malls, retreating quickly behind an occasional artificial potted palm, if it happens to see inconvenient family members, teachers or bosses who – you can't help thinking – shouldn't be wandering around themselves, setting the earnest, adult example instead.

Love buzzes around on two-wheelers... (these things just aren't built for privacy, are they?). Love travels in autos and, if it is feeling particularly fit financially, in fancier vehicles. If it is in a mood for something time-honoured, classic, it hangs around bus stops, or on the corners of the streets where she lives and, of course, the beach as always, where it doesn't mind getting sand between its toes.

Love likes parks, despite having to share the beloved with swarms of mosquitoes. It would like to sit on park benches, but worries about dust. A badly timed sneezing fit is so mood destroying. And then there is always the danger of being visited by our avian friends with...er... full stomachs.

Love isn't a snob. It dances as merrily in mansions with high, discreet walls as it does on miniature balconies decorated by the day's washing. It is as much at home sipping an insanely overpriced, dressed up coffee, as it is exchanging notes or, in these enlightened times, cell numbers, near Corner-Idli-Muniamma. It can saunter past the skinniest mannequin in a boutique, while acknowledging that those huge, gorgeous garlands in all those roadside flower shops also offer a great backdrop, as do mounds of fresh vegetables. Love on the subcontinent is blessed with that wonderful, home grown ability to 'simply adjust'. It draws the line at nestling behind a kolam though between too many gaps.

Apparently, instructions to law enforcers are that they leave couples strictly alone as long as they stay 'within limits'.

Ah, there's a problem... especially since one person's 'limits' is invariably another's shocked gasp.

"Hey, young man, your freedom ends where my dosa begins!"

Also, there are certain times when those-who-just-happen-to-be-passing-by can get a bit sick and tired of all this Love-u-give-u stuff – and rightly so. They've just read the headlines on fuel prices; the gas cylinder is late again; there was no power last night... so running smack into someone else's Great Romance can prove just that little bit too much.

And look, couples in love can be a bit of a pain sometimes... very sweet, of course, and so heart-warming...but, seriously, every now and then, these guys are guilty of what might be called 'very too much', inspiring you to take one look and make the universal gesture for barfing.

But when protests get a bit too shrill, you wrinkle your brows, perplexed.

Those bizarre scenes involving what looks like a hundred and fifty frenzied dancers and distinctly over-ripe song lyrics horning in on someone else's love story are accepted so easily. And many who protest today grew up on movies where middle-aged, distinctly portly people ran around trees, panting not so much out of passion as just being in very poor condition, and found nothing wrong with that image... so why would the sight of two people merely holding hands and walking down a street enrage you?

Oh well, changing attitudes takes time.

Especially in a culture where, till a generation or so ago, you didn't see touchy-feely exchanges even between parents and children.

You appreciate authority's attitude this time around, and it is nice to know the city is slowly beginning to accept that 'our culture' has always kind of included people falling in love, and not react like Love is a late 20th century invention.

So, Chennai can now say: When in love, come to Chennai...

Be sure to wear some malli-poo in your hair,
If you are going to Chennai, You're gonna meet some gentle people there...

Er...sorry.....see, that's the problem watching too many of our movies... 'Love' and 'Song' get so snarled up, it is hard to muse on the former without breaking into snatches of the latter...yes, even very old ones.

Maybe, Top Cops do have a point when they offer leeway, but urge restraint. Philosophers have spoken of the intrinsic worthiness of boundaries....

Not a bad way of looking at Love....and things in general.