The sham called V'Day

A forwarded mail led me to this noteworthy article about the true meaning of Valentines Day and its 21st-century significance. I'll quote some lines:

"...Valentine’s Day was meant to bring a new beginning to a relationship. It was the culmination of true love into marriage, a promise to stay together forever.

The true meaning of Valentine’s Day has been appallingly exploited... A new date on each Valentine’s Day has become the new motto and expensive gifts a trademark... Valentine’s Day, today, has become a symbol of flirtatiousness and the promotion of ostentation... This day suffers the derision of the word love, the very foundation of Valentine’s Day.

The only people genuinely benefiting on this day are the poor farmers in Pune ... due to intermediate trade of flowers... The only thing that drives youngsters on this day... eroticism and infatuation... is greater than their love for anybody else. We can safely conclude that we have succeeded in aping the West completely... from where there is no returning."

It is very clear that the author is making a conscious effort to save the 'ideal LOVE' from Oblivion's Curse. Nowadays, most people measure love by an Archies card, candlelight dinner or a City-Centre game-show. In fact there's this famous Bengali song by Parashpathor saying
"Bhalobasha maane Archies galary"
(I adore the song, but can't help thinking that the song writer probably didn't understand where he was heading with his concept of love!)

First, I'll praise Shireen's article because I liked the way she wrote it. That done, let me point out a few things I failed to agree with:

1)"culmination of true love into marriage"

hmmm... LOVE culminating into MARRIAGE...presumably, the diagramatic representation should be something like this:

If you ask me (and most other 'modernites'), this will be a more respectable representation of the above:

...cheerios all. I know I'm inviting criticism. My views are purely subjective in nature.

2)"marriage, a promise to stay together forever"
That doesn't seem to require much explanation. After the kind of joke marriage has been turned into (thanks to celebrities internationale who think its okay to marry and file a divorce simply because they 'feel' like!!!) its rather wierd thinking that for a generation which (apparently) laughs at the concept of serious love, any serious marriage should be of much importance! (Don't get me wrong! Although I don't really believe in marriages 'lasting forever' and all that, I do believe in love; and I mean SERIOUS LOVE.)

3)"from where there is no returning"

I find this statement too decisive to be accepted without questioning its cause. Its fine to write about the bulk of GenX who weigh love on the basis of material possessions, blame it on consumerism if you wish. But what about the many who speak of love solely because of its emotional value, because of 'the way it makes you feel', because of the passion-tear-comfort factor associated with it! Another left out aspect (I think) is the not-romantic angle of love. The love that exists between siblings, between parents-and their wards, between friends; what about that? I'm just one of the many 'this-generation' people who would be very happy just to get a call from his/her loved one on V'Day! I'm simply one of those many for whom 'every day is Valentines day'.

Does it, in that case, point toward a path of no-return? Does it necessarily symbolise blind faith in Western Culture?

Last but not least, check out these two Valentines Day cards from Postsecret. My favourite ones. The essence of Valentines Day could not have been more different!

1)

2)

3) "I'm having my wisdom teeth out on Valentines Day. That way, I'll be too drugged up and in physical pain, to notice any subtle feelings of loneliness. Wish me luck!"