Monday, February 14, 2011

For the business called Love

Okay on the day of Valentine when I should be out there giving out and collecting roses I am sitting at home, reading Zola Neil Hurston’s, Their eyes were watching God, so much of this blog might appear as ranting of someone who couldn’t find anything better to do. But I am no great fan of PDA’s and think it evil to commercialise love. This year I got aware of the weeklong celebration of the most awaited and most touted day of the year. And mind you each day, with the exception of the hug day and kiss day (that come towards the very end and does not require any money spending), is in fact instrumental in augmenting and facilitating various markets that sell expressions of love on their shelves. Whether it is chocolates, teddy bears or roses, the celebrations and their rituals make sure that you spend well to make sure that your little darling doesn’t feel left out. And not participating in any of these is a carnal folly for all those deeply in love(?) Well who knows real love or not, the rituals can’t be done away with.
A few days before Hello Delhi carried an article about how people are tossing out moolah to make that day special for their beloveds, from fancy and flashy limos to extravagant and expensive helicopter rides over delhi( wait! Over delhi? To look at what? Flyovers, unfinished metro work, the holes dug up by dmrc, the mind boggling traffic? Or maybe to get away from pollution for some time, but at a whoppy price of 90k, No please thank you I’d like my cola and popcorn in a movie hall please.) and for those who don’t wish to spend so much the red, pink bazaar is at their service. It might be clichéd, but it still seems to work well. As if the red coloured heart, the pink teddy bear, the done to death lines of love in greeting cards and red roses can swear everlasting love better than anything else. There was never a trading fest like the Valentines, where so many markets flourish at the same time, the confectionary, the greeting card business, the soft toy company, the rose market.  It’s surprising how some clichés don’t seem to have an expiry date. Year after year shops are adorned with stuff that almost everyone person is gifting one another. It is said that the language of love is common, but it was never said that it’d be also expressed in same words, and same sizes and colour. It’s amazing how people suddenly rediscover, (or are forced to) their love that had been regressed to the recesses of their minds. Sitting at home, and brooding (like I am) has almost become a taboo. If I have a girlfriend or boyfriend I have to take him/her out even if it be out of compulsion, cause it is all in service to the late St. Valentines for whom we do not give a damn otherwise. And love has to be expressed on this day because a day for this purpose has been assigned. The markets thriving on love and feeding on amorous affairs in fact make the average mind believe that it is important to express love on this very day and also with the assistance of the required apparatus that they have at their disposal.
There is a friendship day too, which celebrates friendship and companionship and mate-ship, etc but since the relationship is not as fussy as love and since it is not a one to one arrangement, the whole affair is a lot lesser in complicatedness. Shoddy pieces of plastic or rubber wrist bands are all that you need to wrap up the whole affair with. Roses, greeting cards, and the teddies do not feature, not raking benefits for anyone and therefore the day is much less revered than Valentines.
So, now that the rant is over, A Very Happy Valentine’s Day to each and all and May you all have a nice red-pink and happy day, while I bargain for cheap roses, so that I can give a birthday surprise to my father who happens to have his birthday a day later. J

6 comments:

  1. Well written..I agree to most of what you've mentioned here, especially about the great fuss regarding Valentine's Day!!

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  2. Once again very well written.I simply laughed at "some cliches do not have an expiry date"You know how to expand your thoughts.


    Suresh Mandan
    USA

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  3. I wonder if you do remeber a chapter in our English xi,xii(the class escapes me) on civilization-,twas a chat between Some man & a kid on what is civilization & related matters,there was a point where things like immortal poetry,painting etc.-things of universal acceptance - never lost there touch even after a zillion years ,i guess "love" comes in that group & is thus a "cliche' which does not have an expiry date".Plus the freedom people of today enjoy,i see no harm in doing so,As for the spending,well..if they can afford it,then i guess it's there problem or there enjoyment at flaunting there ostentation!- the practicality of which escapes me :)
    Anyway,Great blog,keep it up !!

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  4. @sunny: I absolutely agree with love being one of those all pervasive and all surpassing and being concordant with poetry, painting and other works of art, love is equally immortal.
    The cliches that I am pointing at are those which have been concocted by the merchandising of love expressions by the enterprises and industries that flourish on it. I know its their choice of flaunting, but I only see it as a vulgar display of one's wealth. What I wanted to draw attention towards was how the "Valentine's Day" has been commercialised and made ceremonial, and also therefore tries to conatain something as immortal and pervasive as love into into a set of pre-ordained conventions.
    But I am very glad you commented and shared your opinion.
    And thanks for following, your comments shall always be welcomed. I mean the blog to be interactive as it helps to broaden my own perspective. :)

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  5. It's actually fun,it's the rarest of the times i get to use some sense,perspective,thought & English in my life of a pharmacist,it's always nice to atleast try to think outside the humdrum life,if only sometimes.

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