To hell with Valentine's Day...

Valentine’s Day - a day they say is meant for love, meant for lovers. Celebrated on February 14, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, flowers, or offering other gifts. They say if you want to express your love for someone, today is the day. And before I properly get started, let me clear up one important thing. Here, whenever I use the term “love”, it is not just for one particular individual. It is for everyone whom we care for. The Mother Earth - in whose lap we were born; our country -which has made us a part of itself, not bothering about all our defects; our parents -who have made us what we are today; our partner/spouse - who believe in us, even if we have committed the worst crime; and also, love for the self: self obsession, some call it.

Now, as you saw in my first post entitled “ME!!!” (I guess with a certain amount of self obsession), I called myself “uber romantic”. Good enough. Does that mean I am going to going to celebrate today’s occasion with great pomp and show? NO!!! Why? Because for me, Valentine’s Day is nothing but another way to show how love has become commercial, and not just to show love. Why does one need a particular day to show and express one’s love for someone? Why can’t one do that the remaining 364 days of the year, 365 in case of a leap year which 2008 is?

Yesterday, I called up my elder brother back in Kolkata. He asked me what my plans for today were. I said, “Nothing”. He said, “Good. Intelligent people don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Why should I gift someone a rose which has been priced at 50 bucks just because it is V-Day, when I can gift her 5 roses on 5 different days with the same amount?” That was all said in good humour.

The thought that he was putting across was simple. For today’s businessmen, it has become another big-shot way to earn lots of money, on one single day. They said, “Love can never be bought”. But today it is being bought; the bigger the card, the larger the love; the redder the rose; the deeper the love; the sweeter the chocolate, more passionate is the love. And in this whole amalgam of bigger, redder and sweeter, and the many more ‘ers’, one has very very truly forgotten the real essence of love. One has forgotten that when new borns open their unworldly little eyes, all they yearn for is love, care, affection. They never ask for gifts or cards or chocolates or roses. That’s because they have come right from the lap of God, and all that they know is love, not gifts. When they grow up, with all the effects and defects that this material world lays on them, they ask for things. And this is all because somewhere down the line, love becomes materialized. They love the people who get things for them, and care a sh*t about others. This is how people love today.

I don’t know if you all agree with my thoughts, but according to me, Valentine’s Day is just another day. If you want to celebrate love, Celebrate it everyday.

You have one life to live,
So much to give,
So much to share,
There is love to be found,
Just look around,
There’s happiness there.

May love live forever!!! :)