Love is in the Air

time flies on wings of responsibility
as love cocoons us, in its warm folds of unconditional acceptance.

Romantic?
For sure, Love is in the air.

Valentine's Day: February 14th, and much hoo haa.

Moral Police play politics and beat the Indian public for aping Western culture.

Sure are we not aping in every way?

We wear clothes that is by far more western than eastern, we eat food, play games, have hobbies, entertain in a very Western way.

....so many, many ways that the Western world has entered our existence.

Is any thing wrong?

Moralistic attitude here is so redundant. As we expose ourselves to other cultures, especially American way of life, we will be influenced and we will necessarily infuse many of those ways into our lives.

Yet, if you have read Freakonomics, you will realise, that common place notions about changes in society is all a misconception...like they state:
It was expected that crime rates in the US will increase dramatically in the year 2000, but...they found a drastic fall...

So also I believe, just because people are adopting and celebrating various events/days like Valentines, Halloweens...etc...it does not mean we will lose our own Indian culture.

When you look at it in one way...yes...there have been many such festivals/ events in India that have lost its value/ significance over the centuries... yet they have been replaced by other, more contemporary rituals/ celebrations.

Sati and Child Marriage were the norm...but now they are punishable offences...

That's why I can't understand what these moral polices' are harping about...
If the message behind such rituals/ celebrations is love and happiness, and in no way does it cause physical harm to another human. Then what's your problem??

Ok...you may say obscenity, PDA, misuse.

Educate, inform, be open.

Do you know the story behind Valentine's day?

The story goes that the King banned marriages as he felt married men refused to enrol in the army. So St. Valentine, a priest, clandestinely married youngsters who so desired. He was caught and thrown into jail. Yet through out his time in jail, young men and women brought him flowers and chocolates to acknowledge the service he had done for them and he even wrote to the Jailer's daughter, letters that upheld the love that is felt by married people. He was killed/ hanged on Feb 14th.

Though we accept this love is meant for couples, love is intrinsic to any relationship, and let us acknowledge that on this day.

Don't be afraid to say you love, don't be afraid to feel love, don't be afraid to express love!!

Comments

  1. Anuradha ShankarFebruary 25, 2011 at 4:03 AM

    you would have liked the celebration at Samhith's school... they wrote letters to god, tied them to balloons and let them loose! fantastic, na? but this chap wont tell me what he wrote :(

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Narrative Practices - a love letter

  Dear Narrative Practices and Ideas, How are you? Have you found all the people you need to find? My hopes and dreams for you is that you reach every storyteller-soul and re-author their thinking and ways of being! The song “Rekhe iddara sake” from kannada movie Chinnari mutha has the following words: Listen to the song here  Are mere wings enough? Birds need the sky to fly high. Are mere legs enough? Deer need speed to jump high. Are mere flowers enough? It needs the wind to spread the scent. Mere water is not enough A river needs the valley to make a river. Mere clouds are not enough Isn't Earth required for rain to pour upon? Are mere eyes enough? Do we not need objects to see? Is mere voice enough? Do we not need a song to sing together?!   This song reminds me that a person does not exist in isolation or in small confined relationships. We are more than that one relationship; we are all that we seek in our landscape. We are agent...
Read more

The Land tells me .... ( a poem) - Versespace 16

Image
  The land offers me a memory, intangible as it can be, A memory of royal, benevolent Rajas. I wonder who his Rani was and then I slip into the memory again. Land is granted, temples built, and priests brought in from faraway lands. I wonder if the Raja and his escorts come back today to witness what they bestowed, Will they know it or even recognise it?   Lord Ganesha is the guardian of this temple, He is still worshiped in his own little shrine, placed at the entrance. Yet the main deity lies forgotten somewhere in the nether regions of the temple, While their replacement is feted in the sanctum-sanctorum.   Human memory is so fragile and ephemeral. Old is lost and abandoned, While New is painted and polished. We forget stories of the old and wish to reinvent every wheel again.   It is time to Remember the past and acknowledge it. And let go our greed for new and nearer things. It is time to Reclaim all that we already have...
Read more

625 Moons and counting! - Externalising the story of my past, present and future through the landscape metaphor!

Like all stories, mine is a nested story.  Stories within stories. Yet it starts at the very beginning - a very good place to start. When you sing we begin with DO RE ME , when we read we begin with ABC, when we tell a story we begin with One upon a time.... there lived a person who knew a huge big tree! Let me open the door to the landscape of my birth and growing up. It was a Forest of Adventure! We had a huge tree near our lunch ground in school and the moment bell rang we would call dibs on who would get to climb the tree and eat while sitting on it. Life was full of adventure. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton was my favorite book growing up and climbing trees was my favorite thing to do. Every day was an adventure. I eagerly looked forward to the new day – not for the studying part, but for the newness that awaited me at school and dance and sometimes music class! Dance class was in a community hall with place to play in front and even huge gulmohur trees! My dance teach...
Read more