Valentine’s Day is no doubt a western culture, but even then, it is celebrated all over India especially among young people. But lately, politicians have taken it upon themselves to police the activities of young people on Valentine’s Day and create a rampage in the public eye.
We had an incident in Kerala wherein, young people while celebrating the day peacefully in college premises were surprised to see police come into the campus and create a mess. Students were beaten up with lathis. Surprisingly, the college principal had summoned cops to ensure students attended classes, instead of celebrating. Similarly, Hyderabad witnessed chaos created by a political outfit, who wanted to restore ‘Indianness’.
We live in a modern world where the younger generation should be given their space to celebrate as long as there is no obscenity. If these people were so particular about the ‘desi’ culture, would English be done away with some day and, will exams be conducted in local languages all over the country?
I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day – not because I’m against it, but because I belong to an older generation. At the same time, I don’t have any objections to my sons celebrating it.
Let us not mix politics into every substance, just for media attention.
Priya Varrier a budding dancer and model, got all the limelight and became a star overnight when a video of her from a Malayalam film went viral on the internet. She gained so much popularity and her followers increased overnight. But here again, religious fanatics came up to say how the song hurt religious sentiments. Furthermore, a man in Hyderabad filed a police case against the makers of the movie. Apparently, he had the song translated to English to understand the meaning and then filed the case.
My question to the readers is whether, faith is so limited in perception. With changing times, ideologies change and newer ones need to come into being. One Malayalam news channel had a discussion, where a cleric mentioned, if the nose is so fragile that while sneezing it pops out, let it be so.
Note: The views expressed in this article are grossly personal, by a common man, and are in no way meant to disparage any community or individual. Let this article not be politicised.