The most surprising aspect is that in the Western world, Valentine's Day sure is celebrated with gusto, but certainly the frenzy that you see in the India media is missing. We are almost made to believe that NOT giving a gift to your spousse or to your boyfriend or girlfriend is a crime under the Indian Penal Code!!! If you fail to recognize V Day, then you belong to the Neanderthal age... if you fail to produce that surprise gift to that target audience, then you are not part of this "in-thing" crowd...
I do not want to get into the debate on whether all this hoopla is right or wrong. I personally feel it is absurd, but I guess that arguement can be reserved for a later date. But culturally speaking, Indians are NOT attuned to the concept of openly espousing their love for their "sweethearts" .... at least not in open public.. no wonder, such acts as V Day gestures in public are provoking a significant section of the public to revolt against this "invasive and undesirable" cultural practice.
To those who support this new "in thing" , let me pose this question - why do you need a new excuse to showcase your affection for your "partner"in public? Have you even bothered to find out the significance of our own age-old festivals, and celebrations, before deciding that they are irrelevant in today's "Netbook" world , or deciding in favour of this new "hep" thing call V Day?
If you have not even made an attept to find out about our own age-old culture, practices, traditions and festitivies before deciding to abandon them, then I am convinced that you have been brain-washed into believing that whatever comes from the West HAS to be good all the time, and whatever that is Desi, simply cannot be good at all for today's "modern" society. This, to me, is matter of shame, coming from a country that used to practice "Tharka Shastram" and other democratic forms of open debate. It shows that Indians, in general, have stopped believing that they have a mind of their own. No wonder one sees the degradation of the Indian society over time, morally.
And to those "self appointed" guardians of culture who claim that women doing this in public is unacceptable and that this invasion should be resisted at all costss and in all ways, even if it means taking the law into your own hands, pray, who gave you the authority to do so? What were you doing when your father abandoned the traditional "kudumi"in favour of a "modern" hair cut? What were you doing when women started showing off their anaotomy in public, ableit in glimpese only, by making sure that not only their computers , but also their blouses have "Windows"? What were you doing when every man in the village deemed it a matter of status sympbol to have a battery of harems? Where were you, when politicians openly talk about an MP seat in terms of Return on Investments and payback period? What were you doing, watching personal integrity of the average indivdual on the street vanish into thin air, much like the profits in Wall Street? Who gave you the authority to decide what is right and what iss wrong, and worse, take the law into your own hands to enforce that? You need to realize that every culture HAS to go through changes, some of which are welcome and some of which are not. A culture and society that does not morph over time is doomed to extinction.
I am not, for a moment, asking everyone to accept EVERYTHING new that comes your way, and simply consign age-old practices to the dustbin without exploring and undersstanding them. The first and fremost is, try and understand the rationale behind every action and practice in vogue. Then debate what is relevant in today's context and what is not. And then implement the ones that you feel suit you and the society at large, over the future course. The final acceptability of this will of course, depend upon what the LARGER SOCIETY accepts and rejects. Trying to impose your own views on the society by using the power of muscle is nothing short of hooligamism, and deserves to be outrightly rejected.
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