Omkar Dattatray
Valentine’s Day,also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. Valantine ‘s Day is celebrated in honor of Saint Valentine,a Christian martyr believed to have beheaded on February 14th.The day was then chosen to commemorated his death .It is said he was secretly marrying couples who were in love. It is thus the day of love. By the way it should be appreciated and accepted that we Indian’s are not valentinests .We have a glorious cultural history dating back to 5,000 years. Glorification of sex is alien to Indian culture and we should follow our cultural traditions, mores and customs and resist to be influenced by the western cultural onslaught .Alas! our youth both male and female are falling prey to foreign and western culture and our young people should adhere to Indian culture and spiritual traditions which is so grand ,pristine as well as beautiful .It is our moral and ethical duty and responsibility not to be swayed by the western culture and should desist from imitating western culture .Our young people should take pride in our glorious past and its cultural beauty .It is very disturbing that while west is attracted towards our culture , heritage and spirituality .This attraction of foreigners especially the western people was in full swing as thousands of people from western countries visited Prayag Raj and took holy dip in sacred waters at the confluence of Saraswati ,Yamuna and Ganga and many of them were seen wearing and adoring Indian attire and dress .It is really soothing to the eye to see the people from western countries taking a holy dip at sangam. Some were chanting Hari Om and Ram Ram .However it is very disturbing and unfortunate that our younger generation is attracted towards western culture and many young couples have got affinity towards foreign culture and are celebrating valantine’s day .The valentine day has lately becoming popular in India and many young couples in big cities and metropolitan’s are observing and celebrating valentine day and do not feel shy of openly going to outings, exchanging gifts and taking dinner at hotels and making show of love which is perhaps not approved in Indian culture. Valentine day celebration is viewed by majority of young Indian couples not conforming to our culture and thus they do not indulge in glorification of love and romance which in fact is alien to our culture. Many Indian’s view the valentine day celebration with skepticism and it is taken as the symbol of westernization .Majority of people in India oppose its celebration .Many Hindu rightwing organizations forcefully object its celebration and even enter the hotels and disturb and stop functions of valentine day celebration. Opposition to celebration of Valentine Day is all right but to forcefully obstruct such functions is also not needed as moral policing has no place in a dynamic and liberal society .But that also does not mean that our young generation should blindly copy and imitate western fashion and western culture rather follow Indian culture in letter and spirit. It is not our culture to exchange gifts and celebrate and glorify love in restaurants and cafes .Inspite of opposition ,many young couples in India celebrate Valentine day and go for outings and exchange gifts and exhibit romance, love and take dinner in hotels and take pleasure in the demonstration of romance. However the celebration of valantine Day is confined to big cities and rural India is not afflicted with this western style of life and love .Many people oppose going to restaurants at evening to have dinner and exchange gifts and public display of affection linked with the day .It is seen that business houses take dividends of encouraging Valantine Day celebration and for the purpose offer special promotions and ideas which is very disturbing .The Valantine Day is becoming popular after the liberalization of the economy .Some people in India feel it a privilege to adopt western culture and they boastfully celebrate valentine’s day and many traditionalists and so called orthodox and conservative young people oppose Valentine’s Day and some disturb valentine’s Day celebrations openly. Many people criticize and oppose the celebration of valantine’s day by our young couples and even disturb the valantine’s day functions .All this is understandable ,but at the same time it can be said that such cultural activists should desist from Assuming the role of moral policing. Since we are living in a liberal democracy and the people here at liberty to do whatever they like but subject to public order and societal values. So the young people should realize and appreciate that they should not blindly imitate western culture and way of living ,but take pride in indigenous cultural heritage and thus should conform to cultural ,moral and societal norms .In this lies the good of the young men and women ,society and country at large .Many political parties have criticized valentine’s day as being the influence of western culture on India .The valantine’s day celebrations are necessitates by the economic activities by the businesses in India as they produce those products like gift cards ,coupons etc which are used in valantine’s day celebrations .Thus for economic gain ,the popularity of valantine’s day is increasing day by day and it in fact poses a big danger to our age old culture and moral as well as societal values. Some organizations and people celebrate 14 February as cow hug day to counter the valantine day celebrations. Because of the immense benefits of cow ,the Animal Welfare Board first proposed to celebrate cow hug day on February 14.The origin of valantine’s day can be traced in Christianity and first a Christian martyr named Valantine was honored and later through folk traditions, it has become a important cultural ,religious and a commercial celebration of romance and love in various parts of the globe .It has spread to India as well as many young couples also celebrate valantine’s day with gaiety .As the origin of Valantine’s day can be found in 14th century ,the holy Bible does not contain any thing about it, however it says a lot about love .Love is a central theme of the Bible and one learns much about God is love and loves humanity with a steadfast love that is forever. We should abide the faith ,hope and love but the greatest of these three is love as per Bible .Indian people by and large being basically religious do not celebrate valantine’s day and those who celebrate it say that the former are conservative and orthodox .The valantine’s day is perhaps over showered by Saraswati Puja .Half of the people celebrating valantine’s Day do not even know as to why they celebrate it. In India valantine’s Day is more driven by fashion and less by emotion .Gift galleries, clubs, pubs ,hotels etc. en-cash emotions and earn a moolah on this day ,and couples express their ”true love ”on this day .But it can be said that love which is glorified on the occasion of valantine’s Day is selfish love but love in context of Indian culture and religion should be selfless as marriages in Hindu culture is a festival pledging love for ever even in the next world. In brief our young couples and even bachelors and unmarried girls should not imitate western life styles rather take pride in their own culture,traditions and customs .Long live Indian culture.
(The author is a columnist, social, KP activist & Freelancer)
