Is It Love Or Is It The Pandemic?

V-Day is a good occasion to examine closeness in the era of distancing

- Rehana Munir

And if you can't be with the one you love/Honey, love the one you're with, sang folk rock musician Stephen Stills in 1970. Over 50 years later, it should officially be declared the love anthem of the pandemic. Who cares whether a couple's horoscopes match, they root for the same football club or read the same philosophers? Proximity, coupled with safety protocol compatibility, is CovidCupid's double-headed arrow. Gone are the days of silk négligées, expensive colognes and heady aphrodisiacs. These days, we swoon over an N95 mask worn well and sanitiser splashed on with pizzazz as we pre-game with RAT kits. Saucy.

The dance of intimacy and distance