Love and all that ….

Come February, you start getting emails with offers on gifts for your ‘Valentine’ to present it on that very special day ‘The Valentine’s Day’ and those big banners for the day with special offers for  ‘Food and Wine’. Not to mention the marathon run of the romantic movies on the Romedy Channel (which I have subscribed to get my occasional dose of romantic comedies)

And no, I am not those bashers like Jessica Biel or Jennifer Garner trying to vent out my anger on all things Valentine’s (even they end up with some one at the end of the day). Nor am I one of those who is jealous of the people who celebrate it.

I believe in love, I married the man I loved (well, it didn’t last very long, not even 0.125% of the years I was in love to be exact, but that is not the point here though). But what I don’t believe is thrusting the concept of love and all that jazz on our faces for a whole month. Even when I was in love, we never exchanged gifts during Valentine’s day. Not that it was something I wanted to ignore just for the heck of it. I just didn’t feel the need to do it just like everyone else. Why take the inherent pressure of outperforming everyone else on that day and confess our love through cards and gifts and do all that crap. Nope. It wasn’t for me. We had our special day some other day when it really mattered for us. I didn’t mind that other people did it. It was cute. As long as they know what they were doing and didn’t want to do it for the sake of others, its all fine.

But honestly, I feel that the group who gets the maximum out of it is the Confectionery, Cards (greeting), Movie, Restaurant and Shopping Industries. That covers a big majority doesn’t. Not to mention all the local (religious and non-religious) faction who gets a chance to beat up those people who show their ‘love’ and ‘affection’ in public places on that day. Yes, there is always such incidents that happen on that day in very cosmopolitan cities here. It becomes a little annoying when all those banners, those ads, those email messages (for various shopping sites) keep popping up every day with special offers for the day.

Also think of all those people who are alone and would love to have a Valentine. How much pressure we put on them, especially the young ones. I have known young girls in hostels, who always felt like if they were left out, because everyone has someone to share that day, then that some how becomes a reflection of the kind of person they are (sad, lonely and totally un-lovable, at least till the next year or until they find someone). That is really very sad.

Good for all those people who believe and  have the privilege of sharing it with someone they love. And for those who believe and are alone, its OK, its just another day. It will be your day someday with that someone special.

As for me:

I love romantic movies, there will be very less percentage of women who wouldn’t like it. And I am certainly not one of them. The only good thing for me that comes out of this special day is that when I get back home from the day’s work I can relax to one of the (at least) 10 romantic movies that are played in the various channels, if I feel like watching TV on that day. Other than that, it just another manic work day for me.