Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Valentine's Day in Indian Culture

Its that time of the year again and we see the celebrations seeping into almost everyone and everything. Decorated Restaurants, advertisements and hoardings on Valentine's day dinner and events, red roses, heart shaped balloons and many gift shops selling a lot of stuff under this concept. Even TV programs gearing up for the occasion, spreading this culture, deriding our own Values for this western junk culture, Love and romance is in the air all around. Wow, this feels good while a smart businessman sees it as an opportunity to make a quick buck, and some silly youngsters see it in the Bollywood/Tollywood world and see it as a Dream in their eyes with the rose they chose is in the hands of the charming girl they dreamt of!


    Our youngsters look upto some of the smartass khans in the movie world and always imbibe them in their mirrors. They desperately want to be like them and get the kind of girls they want! Such is our Patriotism and Culture which is the next on the verge to be corrupted. Some activist groups go against them, beat them up, get them married trying to teach them a lesson! But what are they going to do about the Virus of Valentine and the Western diseased culture that spreads from all over?


      I was reading an article where Yoga, Parenthood etc.,., are practised now a days in all western Countries. Indian child psychology is studied everywhere as the way our parents bring us up is known to be the best as our Culture lays all the foundation. The meanings of Indian Ancient Vedas and Upanishads are adopted by many companies, political parties, countries!


    Look at China, Japan etc.,., they care a damn abt West! They still follow their own culture, their own systems and so, they are one of the most successful countries in the world. Here is what i read in another blog somewhere....Some of the reasons given to oppose Valentine's Day are that it is not part of our culture and is an import from the west. The day is overly commercialized and has become an excuse for big corporations to mint money. Some claim that there's more indecent behavior in public on this day and some others say that women are harassed more on the fourteenth of February. Agreed, some of it might be true, it's definitely an import. But does this justify getting down to violence and vandalism?

Culture, as anything else in this world, is dynamic. It never remains the same. What was culture earlier, like sati and child marriage, is a crime today. Something that a lot of people in a society do and accept becomes culture. We should not, and cannot, prevent changes in our culture. It's inevitable.
We have a rich heritage and culture as a nation. But at the same time people need to realize that in today's age, a culture cannot be isolated from the rest of the world. The protesters aren't the only ones who have a sense of right and wrong, who have strong ethics and moral values. Most of the people whom they beat up also have it. They aren't stupid! They should be left to decide what's good or bad for them. If VHP and Shiv Sena have a problem with Valentine's Day, they need not celebrate it. Nobody is forcing them to. They can protect and maintain the "Indian Culture" amongst themselves. They have no right to dictate what I should or shouldn't do.

We claim to be a free democratic nation. But when such thugs are allowed to vandalize property and assault people and go scot-free, then it means that they are allowed to curb my freedom of expression and freedom to choose. And that just isn't acceptable.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you.