Why Valentines Day Should be Banned ?

Before you come into any conclusion please read the whole post and try to understand my justifications and reasons. No i don't belong to any sword flashing Sena inclined on moral cleansing and my half grown beard does not indicate my membership to any Taliban style organisations. Before understanding the argument do not subjugate freedom of opinion even if it is against the common notion held by a generation fascinated by live in relationships and one night flicks.

There are various premises to my argument on prohibiting the v day ranging from logical, argumentative and some suggestive. I don’t know when this valentines day which is a commemoration of St. Valentines love notes he wrote to the jailors daughter started to be interpreted as an occasion to present your new proposal to a damsel or bachelor, renew the missing content of love in the marital contract or restart your search for an unfounded love. There are various explanations to the celebration of V day on Feb 14th every year; i will give you a brief insight on some of them. Some sources say it was a pagan (a group of people believing in religions before Islam, Christianity and Judaism) celebration where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility.

According to another popular story, in the third century A.D. Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking to bolster his army, forbade young men to marry. Valentine, it is said, flouted the ban, performing marriages in secret, for his defiance, valentine was executed in a.d. 270—on February 14. And yet another story goes like this, when st. Valentine was arrested for defying the brutal emperors orders he had many visitors and admirers supporting his act and cause including the jailors daughter, with whom he spoke a lot and passed letters with the sign “from your valentine”. This tradition has promoted it as a day to exchange notes of love and affection to your dear and near ones.

Now what reasons do I have to suggest its abolishment, as an intellectual friend puts it this is a tradition revived by global greeting card manufacturers like Hallmark and Archies to boost their sales and make some windfall gains? This looks like a logical explanation when you look at the benefits, even as the economy is going on a break less roller coaster valentines day sales are expected to generate retail sales of 14.7 $ billion in US alone. So it looks like a large scale propaganda to make money and sell some old unsold cards.

We are from a nation who has so much of love stories in history to adopt as a day and yet we are again trying to ape western culture, which you should understand is inferior to us in this context. We have had a science dedicated to the art of love making thousands of years before the first greeting card or inflated red colour balloon's were invented. We should get inspired from the characters and chapters in our history like Shajahan and Mumtaz, where the grief struck emperor on his loving wives death erected a mausoleum of immense beauty and unheard scale to proclaim his unending love for her. This is a story which has its signature still visible in the form of one of the seven wonders in the world. We could adopt the mythological love story of Shakuntala and Dushyanta for our inspiration to commemorate the day of love. We have an option to opt for the love of mythological love story of Shri Krishna and Radha. If you want a fresh perspective let us choose the love story of prince Salim and Anarkali, the options are unlimited more apt and realistic. All these options have been selected in a positive perspective to celebrate the history of true love.

On a more serious note special days to celebrate love is a cliché evolved in the lines of other celebratory days like anniversary, memorial etc. Any body who has a true love for someone do not need the justification and support of a day to express it, he/she has a whole life time of opportunity left to them for this. These special days are for loveless lovers, husbands, and wives etc to renew their contract of love and to be reminded about their affection and express some truth into it.

If I had an option I could celebrate love on any given day or time, I wouldn’t need or for a matter of fact any true romantic wont need a balloon or a card to express their gratitude and affection. So don’t go by this grandiose marketing plan and express true love any time anywhere, nothing can stop you.

P.S my suggestion to ban V day has got nothing to do with my failure to get a date nor does it have anything to do with my previous mishaps and failed proposals hehehehe. This is purely a suggestive post and any greeting card seller or chocolate shop owner is unhappy about my views, it is purely unintentional. :) :) lol

-Au Revoir