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METRO ESSAY
Playing the game of love
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ISSUE Is Valentine’s Day a beautiful occasion to celebrate non-platonic love or is it merely an artificial construct?
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Moment of togetherness A couple at a park on Valentine’s Day
Now that it has been over a month since Valentine’s Day, when all the New World descends into a conscious acknowledgement of that most elusive and romantic of sentiments — non-platonic love — I thought enough time has passed to pen
some thoughts that I’ve harboured on this most pleasantly contentious of subjects. That is, enough time to stop the romantics from being offended. At the same time, it is close enough to reminisce on the festivities in a rational way, before people forget about the day altogether, and unfortunately sometimes, its purport as well.
I’m going to approach this as a photographer would a tennis match, clicking away to accrue insightful snapshots from both sides — because that is what invariably ends up happening with respect to Valentine’s Day (VD from now on. Wait a minute… perhaps not). The man or woman on serve avers that it is beautiful to celebrate two people’s union on a day that commemorates their mutual resplendence with bouquets, wine and chocolates. The receiving end of this cloying serve of platitudes responds with a deadly forehand, claiming the day to have been artificially resuscitated — but then don’t we revive hearts artificially? (Okay, that really was a very poor joke). An incisive backhand asks why we need one day to celebrate a sentiment that should be there everyday. And finally, a philosophical lob floats the notion that Valentine’s Day celebrations, in today’s avatar, are an offence to our bachelor days and all the cerebral and emotional progress imbibed then.
So you see how the exchange goes.
I, for one, am a neutral party that witnesses the passing of such a day and the attended debate. In India, we have poverty and hardship, the penury juxtaposed with the ludicrous good fortune of the few well-to-do. In the Indian context, this day plucks a chord of genuine sentiment.
It is rare in India to behold public declarations of love — what with cultural idioms, moral policing, etc. And yet, people in love here must really be so. I read a front-page report on February 14 this year in a local newspaper that claimed the police commissioner had promised not to ‘curb’ couples in love displaying their coy protestations of amour on the day!
Many aspects of life that people endure and prioritise are a result of love. It must be so in order for them to survive. Yet, this day is celebrated as if it were something that is unrelated to money, security or contract. The reason why this day affects those, particularly the single and lovelorn — why it means so much more than chocolates and flowers — is because it is an overt reminder that some things in life are priceless.
Whatever the truth, the exchange of serves and volleys in this match of Game, Set and Love will continue.
MADHURIKA SANKAR
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