February 12, 2014
(February 14 is Valentine's Day)
A friend of mine recently asked me what was I planning to do on 14th February. My immediate response was, “Attending classes and maybe working on a new project”.
My friend looked perplexed. “Aren’t you going to celebrate Valentine's Day?”
I looked back at her in amazement. “What’s so special about it?”
With the lovers’ day approaching, our young boys and girls are already in a romantic mood. Founded in dedication to St Valentine, Valentine's Day is a day devoted to lovers all round the world. It is celebrated universally with no regard to colour, religion, cast, creed and country. As blissful and blessed that it sounds, in a country like India with varied cultures, rituals and traditions, Valentine's Day is widely accepted as a great celebration, just as other festivals are.
We are a bunch of romantics and desire to celebrate Valentine's Day whole heartedly even if it meant to be only once a year. A recent survey conducted on some students and teachers revealed that not all consider Valentine's Day to be a day only dedicated to lovers. What surprised me the most was that, many feel that even family members could get together and celebrate Valentine's Day. This is something hard to think of especially in a city like Mangalore, where most of the parents do not like the idea of celebrating Valentine's Day because they feel it spoils their children’s mentality and makes them unsophisticated.
Fr Augustine, studying in St Aloysius College believes that, there is always an element of romanticism connected with Valentine's Day. He says, “I don’t celebrate it personally but there is nothing immoral about the celebration, because it is a day, as we believe, to show our love and care to the person whom we love.”
Dr Vijayalakshmi, a teacher of St Aloysius College says, “After marriage, love increases two fold. Love’s all about care, affection and sharing.” Here we see a changing scenario, where parents are slowly changing and adapting to western culture without actually giving up their culture.
A lot of people, including me believe that Valentine's Day should not be a day only for lovers. What about those who are heartbroken and lonely? What about our divorced friends who are fighting their away their loneliness? What about our youth who have not yet experienced love in their lives? How can we say that Valentine's Day is dedicated only to lovers? Wont it hurt them to see others enjoying like love birds and they are left alone with loneliness as their sole companion.
How about a perspective change? How about, this Valentine, we buy cards and gifts not only for our better halves but also for our parents, friends and family members.
It can be said that love transcends the human nature and reaches the soul. So how about we leave our all our differences and spend time with our near and dear ones. This Valentine, forget all your problems and give yourself and your loved ones some time. Make yourself smile and believe that there is always someone to love and to care for you in this whole wide world.
So this Valentine lets rekindle our love and let it blossom into fruitful colours and lighten our lives.