I was well into my early teens when I first heard of the Saint and the eponymously named festival held on Feb 14. I was yet untouched by Cupid’s arrows which had struck down so many of my friends leaving them bleeding their hearts out on the altar of love. I don’t know if love was in the air but change was certainly in the air.
Girls became a sub-species under Homo Sapiens. Precious pocket money was spent on Archie’s cards rather than on Centerfresh cards. People who couldn’t string two sensible words together were waxing love lyrics. The Rose, a flower which I have always felt is a bit overhyped, assumed much more important connotations. Love-lorn expressions ruled the day instead of heated discussions on last evening’s WWE matches. People with the heart of a chicken were vowing to slit their wrists and seal their love in blood. The whole day was fraught with nervous tension, shaky legs, brittle laughter, some elated hearts and many broken ones. And as for me, I was nonplussed and amazed at the inanity surrounding the whole charade. It was something out of a Coen Brothers’ movie: funny but macabre at the same time.
The years have rolled on and the only things that has changed is the size of the dent made in your pocket. Globalization and the Commercialization of the arrows’ of Cupid have ensured that a mere card of the past isnt sufficient enough. V-Day is something to be planned to perfection right from the message in the card down to the tint of the roses.
Now, lacking my previous asperity and the insolent candour of an armchair critic, I think I have gained a sliver of knowledge into the Valentine psyche.The social hypocrisy that enmeshes us so tightly in its grasp has ensured that love is in the movies, in all forms of music, in literature, in the air we breathe. It surrounds us everywhere, except that we never feel an iota of it. True Love is like an urban myth. Countless have heard of it, barely anyone has experienced it.
So if one day out of the other mundane 365 days is reserved entirely for the celebration of love, I don’t think its asking for too much. Never mind that next Valentine, you will be whispering sweet nothings into the ear of someone other than the special person of this year. Never mind that you are among the millions of souls whose love is unrequited this year. Never mind that this year you have no one special to celebrate it with.
Cupid’s arrow will strike true some Valentine or the other. Then you wont belong to the class of people mentioned above. Then you will realize love need not a reason nor occasion to celebrate, neither doth it need to wait for Valentine’s Day to manifest itself.
