Valentine’s Day, a paradoxical day in India

Posted by newskolkata in All, Features | 0 comments

14^th February as we all know is well known for Valentine’s Day. In India we have a long list of days in this month of February they are as follows:

07 feb.= Rose Day..
08 feb.= Propose Day..
09 feb.= Chocolate Day..
10 feb.= Teddy bear Day..
11 feb.= Promise Day..
12 feb.= Hugs Day..
13 feb.= Kiss Day..
14 feb.= valentine’s Day..

This may be a list for a romantic week for few couples but can there really be a day for love and romance? There is a history behind this Valentine’s Day as we all know Saint Valentine (in Latin , Valentinus) is the name of several (14 in all) matyred saints of ancient Rome. The name “Valentine”, derived from valens (worthy, strong, powerful), was popular in Late Antiquity. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried on the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines“).  On this day lovers tries to make the day special for their partners but can this day really be a day of romance when on this same day previously in 2009 true to its call for protests on Valentine’s Day, the Shiv Sena went on the rampage terrorising couples, beating, threatening and humiliating them. If this way Valentine ’s Day is observed in our country it cannot be called a day of romance.

In our country before there was Valentine ’s Day as now but with less hype among the citizens regarding gifts and accessories. Seeing to the ways it is celebrated globally the Indians are getting influenced because it is the general tendency of the Indian mobs since earlier pasts to adopt from the foreign countries without judging its appropriation. The people are blind folded and likes to adopt that is colorful and catches their eyes and now this day is getting equal importance and is dedicated towards ‘love’ in our India also like foreign countries.

We can see that global influence in the markets also. Earlier the people were less interested about these days and so the prices of the gifts and flowers were much lesser compared to now. As the people have come to know about these special days they have made special price tags for the gifts which are much higher on these days than any other ordinary days. Lovers nowadays to impress their partners are opting for these precious and costly gifts and to earn a name in their life but in the days of Ramayana and Mahabharata there were neither Valentine ’s Day nor gifts which truly depicts our Indian culture but there were true love.

Last but not the least there is 21^st feb which is known as Breakup day. In most situations the couples who are in a one month relationship ends up on this day following again the global influence. The question finally arises does Valentine ’s Day is just a name tag for romance for guys and gals becoming couples? Or they truly have the confidence to carry on with their love lives even after 21^st feb and truly present the rich culture of India without getting influenced from the foreign countries.