Rita
was very excited as it is going to be her very first date on 14th
February with John. As he had approached her, had asked her to meet him on that
particular day, fourteen February. Now she would be like one of her other
teenage friends, those who shared their experiences in group. The only thing
she knew was that this day is celebrated by lovers and each beautiful girl went
with her boy friend to celebrate this day.
She
got ready on that particular day in a special red dress and went to the card
shop to buy card and gift and flowers, as it is custom for John, she had heard
from her friends that this is the way to express their feelings.
While coming out of shop she was surprised to
see John with another girl holding flowers and cards. John was shocked when he
saw her and he escaped from there quickly without saying anything to her. The
truth dawned on her. She realized that she is merely rushing towards a person
who is befooling don’t know how many girls in the name of ‘love’. Her dream was
shattered but then it gave her a good lesson too.
This made me wonder what is
happening? Why this excessive attraction to the body and why this falsehood?
Well digging deeper I found the answer the Indian movies are planting seeds
into new crop’s innocent minds since 2000 and that too without understanding
the depth of the seriousness of this emotion and this occasion. Youngsters meet
and play in the name of ‘love’. Bollywood’s romantic movies are now creating
‘Valentine's Day’ celebration situations and fantasies that fascinate the
adolescent young minds to live that dream. (Bollywood is the name for
movies made in Mumbai, India). They are bright, colorful, romantic and musical
like "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge", ‘Dil
to pagal hai” etc.
These days on this occasion the markets
gets flooded with items related to this ‘Love emotion’ cards, gifts, heart
shaped soft toys, teddy, roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, diamond
industry too began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for gifting
jewelry. This ‘emotion’ and this occasion have been commercialized. Negative
elements of the society believe this day to be a license to indulge in anti gentlemanly
activities, they consume lots of alcohol, indulge in eve teasing and sale of
condoms also rise as this is also fast becoming a day of love making in this
way.
And this made me research the reason why
the story associated with the ‘Valentine’s day’. Saint Valentine was imprisoned
for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for
ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. Saint Valentine's Day, also known as
Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine is observed on February 14 each
year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it remains
a working day in most of them. St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical
celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus.
As a result of globalization this day is
celebrated as festival in almost countries. In India, a hindu saint has stated
that "Those who celebrate ‘Valentine’s Day’ in the present manner do in
fact insult the saint himself; for they try to start a love-affair before their
actual marriage by sending Valentine cards to one another. I believe had St.
Valentine known that his good intentions would come to this, he would not have
solemnized the marriages in the first place."
Shiv
Sena and the Sangh Parivar have asked their followers to shun the holiday and
the "public admission of love" because of them being "alien to
Indian culture". Although these protests are organized by political
elites, the protesters themselves are middle-class Hindu men who fear that the
globalization will destroy the traditions in their society: arranged marriages,
Hindu joint families, full-time mothers, etc.
Despite
these obstacles, Valentine's Day is becoming increasingly popular in India.
Celebration of Valentine's Day in Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia has been harshly criticized by Islamic Teachers who see the celebrations
as opposed to Islamic culture.Valentine's Day has been strongly criticized from
a postcolonial perspective by intellectuals from the Indian left.
Looking
at the other countries St. Valentine's Day in Greek tradition was not
associated with romantic love; In the Eastern Orthodox church there is another
Saint who protects people who are in love, Hyacinth, of Caesarea but in
contemporary Greece, this tradition has mostly been superseded by the
"globalized" form of Valentine's Day.
In Denmark and Norway, although February 14 is known as Valentine’s day, it is
not celebrated to a large extent, but is largely imported from American
culture, and some people take time to eat a romantic dinner with their partner,
to send a card to a secret love or give a red rose to their loved one. The
cut-flower industry in particular is still working on promoting the
holiday.
In France, a traditionally
Catholic country, Valentine's Day is known simply as "Saint
Valentin", and is celebrated in much the same way as other western
countries. In Spain Valentine's Day is known as "San Valentín" and is
celebrated the same way as in the UK.
Valentine's Day is celebrated in some East Asian countries with Chinese and
South Koreans spending the most money on Valentine's gifts. In South Korea,
similar to Japan, women give chocolate to men.
When whole life is not
enough to love someone then how could you fix a single day for celebrating
'love'? I don't think love depends on any meeting or needs any physical
togetherness or an expression into three magical words. Nor those words are
able to complete this ocean of emotions. It is an emotion which can be felt by
another soul no matter whether they are together or separated. If there is
honesty in person then there would be realization of true feelings by another
and care for each other.
What these youngsters
feel is not ‘love’. It is infatuation, a temporary attraction towards the
physical appearance of the other sex. That is certainly not the chaste and
sacred feeling of love. What they feel is the need to show off to their group
of friends that they too have a girlfriend/boyfriend and love is not a show
off. It is an emotion close to the heart, which takes you close to God, which
elevates you from the coarse and takes you to the sublime.
Alfred Tennyson says “If
I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden
forever.”
For me love is a feeling which grows with time and it is so pure that it
touches other's heart. It gives you power and reason to live, to divert your
energies in a constructive way. It makes you feel romantic, special and to love
yourself. A single life is not enough to absorb the wide emotion of 'love' so I
can't celebrate this particular day of 'love'.... I want many lives to live and
to love...
