The following are a few scattered thoughts that came out of multiple encounters this author had with people and articles in relation to the Valentine’s Day- a concept that has attracted both flowers and brickbats in plenty in recent years. Specifically, this is a response to the article that was published in this newspaper under the title ‘14 Reasons Why Valentine’s Day Sucks’ (Feb 13, Issue 28). But before diving headlong into arguments that might be slightly politically incorrect, let it be made clear to the discerning and impartial reader that this author’s personal opinions on Valentine’s Day remains completely irrelevant here. They may even be the complete opposite of the arguments made in the following lines. The sole intention behind this pseudo-intellectual pontification is, to put it humbly, raise some fuss.So the argument of the anti-Valentine’s Day camp, at the risk of over simplification, goes roughly as follows. By discriminating against single people, commercializing love and privileging monogamous relationships, the wretched occasion wreaks havoc in an already unequal world. People should celebrate love all year long, rather than ear marking one single day for this noble cause. Critical takes on Valentine’s Day, it goes without saying, are much too detailed and theoretical for us to summarise here. But I hope the above is enough for the intelligent readers of our august community to get the gist of the argument.
Now, to take the bull by its horns, let us take the strongest point of the naysayers to task – commercializing love. In a world in which everything from motherhood to human imagination is commercialized, what is it about love that makes its commercialization the cardinal sin? Come to think of it, commercialization may not be such a bad thing after all, as it gives us the opportunity to appreciate the value of things that we would otherwise tend to overlook or worse, take for granted. As consumer-citizens of a capitalist society, it is beyond doubt that there is nothing that catches our attention as money and its exchanges. In fact, having to spend your hard earned money to register your love for another individual might prove to be the best thing that could happen to an increasingly apathetic and indifferent society. Some claim that love is invaluable and cannot be objectified, but then, is motherhood, art, knowledge, sex and human ingenuity any different? If we can indulge in commercial relationships that involve these goods and/or qualities of social life and yet appreciate their value (or carry on with life without giving a damn), it is really difficult to see how buying candies for your crush will tarnish the sanctity of love.
Living as we are in an extremely conflictual and unforgiving world, may be we should just be thankful for the whole concept of having a day dedicated to good old romantic love. Even if one agrees that people have to do a lot of nervous scrambling to somehow live up to the expectations of the day, one still gets the feeling that at the end of the day you might end up better off emotionally. This is due to the power of ritual. Valentine’s Day is perhaps one among the many secular rituals that we perform seriously. This power that Valentine’s Day exudes to move people by virtue of its ritualistic and performative nature will never be appropriated by ‘all year long love’. Banality and familiarity almost always dampens human emotions, don’t you think? So why not let love glow in all its glory and splendour for a single day at least before it fades away into the humdrum realities of everyday life?!
It is interesting to see that the critics of Valentine’s Day range from feminists in the West to fundamentalists in Asia. While the former anchors their criticism in the allegedly unjust premises of the V day, the latter invoke the need to guard indigenous tradition and culture from corrupting influences. While the author’s sympathies rest undoubtedly with the former group, they could certainly use some introspection with regard to their position on the V Day. May be what we need to do is to suspend some of our rational and critical faculties and be impulsive for a change. Let people do stupid things like buying roses and sending them to complete strangers without revealing themselves, or, be brave enough to risk heartbreaks and confess love. And since doing such things all year long will eventually suck, let them pick a day for these things and call it the V day. Let all praise be to Saint Valentine of Rome!!
Lipin Ram
Political Science
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