Valentine’s day, to the "Moral Policing Day"
It’s the month of February. Over these years I have being
listening to people talking about February 14th celebrations which is being
celebrated as the day of love. Every gift shop decorated with heart shaped
balloons, greetings cards, teddy bears carrying hearts and lovely messages, the
ball room dolls and lots of lovely gifts which would leave the receiver’s heart
racing! Who wouldn't love to receive gifts from the person who loves you and
the one whom you love back? And also gift him/her and express on this particular
day how much you love them!
Of course, there need not be just a particular day meant for
love. Love sees no time. It’s immortal. But, don’t we all celebrate many other
such occasions on the particular days? Being a person who loves to travel and
learn about different cultures, I have come across various debates held on this
topic. Mangalore being very much in news for creating the hype for a day!
Why is the Valentine’s day being celebrated? Stories
regarding this are many, one of them is, Valentine was a Roman priest who
served during the third century. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single
men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed
marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree,
defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.
When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to
death. Other stories carry that valentine may have been killed because he helped
the Christians to escape from the roman prisons where they were tortured them.
It is also believed that in France and England, it’s considered as the bird’s
mating season. Hence this day is being associated with love and romance. The
stories are many.
The celebration of this day has always being controversial
especially in India. Where the rigid culture, sees it unfit to celebrate a day
as such. The conservative culture of the country sees it as vulgar or indecent.
We often hear about moral policing on this day. The day of love, these years
often being celebrated more like the “Moral Policing Day”.
In Mangalore, youngsters start their day wearing anti
romantic colored dresses to remain on a safer side. The college entrance, often
have the police who look for those who try to go against their cultural values.
Girls planning to wear lovely red salwars beware. Siblings too beware as there
are cases where the siblings were beaten up as they were sadly misunderstood as
lovers. Women were beaten up in public though this is the country where woman
is supposed to be treated next to goddess.
Ice cream lovers beware. I suggest you people to get a
family pack well in advance but better avoid going to any ice cream parlors.
You never know what might happen and you may be mistakenly coupled with the
person sitting near you or even the waiter if your stars aren’t in your favour.
Ah! You never know!
Women who are expecting their menstrual cycles around
February 14, and especially those who show a lot of premenstrual syndromes like
irritability, mood swings and CRAVING OF CHOCOLATES AND ICECREAMS beware! Get
them well in advance and enjoy the day at home. Your safety comes first.
All the party lovers out there, ask your mothers to prepare
something nice on that day and enjoy the happy dinner at home, watching a
random news. You surely wouldn't like to be one among those hiding their faces
from the media with no fault of yours. Right?
The aforementioned
Muthalik, who has participated in attacking women who attend bars, has said:
Westerners are trying to break up the Indian family system. Giving flowers on
the streets, showing affection in public, showering kisses in full public view
is wrong. What is the difference between us and animals?
The opposers to this view argue as follows, The famous
Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Madhya Pradesh consists of ancient sculptures
that explicitly depict sexual foreplay and intercourse. Perhaps most famous is
the Kama Sutra text, which celebrates lovemaking in graphic detail. It is very
much a part of Indian culture!
There are two sides of the coin. The debates go on. To
celebrate or not! It would be great if the debaters try to strike a fair
balance holding both the side of the subject. Why not try to celebrate
Valentine’s day as the day of love and hence try to keep up the harmony in the
society as well? Also keeping in mind, as not to indulge into any activities,
which are considered as morally unfit? Aren't we smart enough to carry self
policing? The world would be a much better place to live.
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