Valentine's Day

Yesterday was the valentine's day that was marked by pink chaddis, pink saris, moral brigades, love brigades and what not. An innocous western saint and his day has assumed a large proportion in our country- which in itself is not surprising. We are all asked to take sides- should we or should we not celebrate this western festival? Then, long explanations follow why we
should or should not celebrate it.

While we were in college, we had not heard of a Valentine's day. (I graduated in 1988) Many of my college mates would have been only too pleased if they were 'forcibly' married off (for free) by self righteous outfits. And mind you, we had not heard of these outfits too, then. For all I dig into my memory, my first valentine day gift was in 1992 when on 14th Feb, my
beloved husband of one and a half year presented me with a gift paper wrapped 'masala no dabbo', a crucial kitchen item for a Gujju girl which was missing in his parental house. I still use it. So, tell me, is valentine day against our culture?

Of couse, the advertising hype around the day was at its peak at that time. The college where I teach saw two quite bizzare celebrations involving auctioning of chocolates to be gifted to the objects of devotion. Many other days became popular such as rose day and friendship day- again largely unheard of earlier.

Suddenly around at the turn of the millenium, the valentine's Day caught attention of Shiv Sena (other outfits are new kids on the block). I distinctly remember that students in my campus had put up posters about the upcoming valentine's day events and had made a large heart shaped rangoli in the courtyard. The Shivsainiks came, objected, tore the posters, smudged a few
corners of the Rangoli and left. This was enough to scare the authorities. The event was modified as 'the butterfly day' and postponed to a later day. The heart shaped rangoli was changed into a butterfly! The 14th Feb was no longer mentioned. I believe, the students also got tired of this concept. The youngsters today, prefer to go to many hang outs in the city on days that convenient to them rather than celebrate a sedate 'day' in the college. The advertising blitz in the paper no longer had that zing. Shiv Sena no longer cared about this day.

We thought the Valentine's Day was slowly becoming dated when thanks to the fringe outfits, it has again been revived in the public mindscape. The publicity generated has benefitted both the pedlers of valentine's Day merchandise and the outfits who want to oppose this phenemenon.