Valentine's Day

As yet another valentine's day passes by, I realize it is not yet another Valentine's Day for me! Unlike all the previous 26 times where my Valentine rose didn't have a recipient, this time she was present, right in front of me.. all gleeful, displaying the 32-Meswak (her fav t-pst) brushed teeth! I am even discounting the previous instance where she was available to receive the roses but instead of me, ahem.. the delivery boy got the opportunity to see her smile! Grrr... Loooooong distance relationship you see.. Bangalore to Bombay err.. Mumbai!

Talking of BoaomMumbai, I personally have no apprehensions about calling it Mumbai. This is where I agree with what Bal Thackeray once said on this topic.. Parents should have the right to name their children. Agree with you Tiger! Holding myself back from deviating on a very tempting topic, Mumbai and the Thackerays have a close connection with Valentine's Day for me. It is this combo that created a criminal image of this not so complicated day. The first recollection of this goes back to my school days when starting around 12th or 13th of Feb Pranoy Roy on NDTV would start talking about the warnings that the Sena group has aired about finding any V-Day celebrations in their city! (May be this is why I would give the opprtunity to the delivery boy!!) They argued that this would support the invasion of the western culture into the Indian society.

Being from a middle-class conservative Mangalore-based Brahmin family, I agreed (surprisingly!!!) with their views. But now, roughly a decade later, with sufficient exposure to reality and also to the western world, you judge the situation better. Partially, the opportunity of spending two V-days (2007, 2010) in the US has helped in this regard. What Sena probably fears is that, if this day is let go freely, then any boy on the street would propose/eve-tease any other girl, even if she is taking a nap! Howzzat!! Given a chance, am sure most boys would want to try this.. at least in their adolescent ages. This could happen in India as well as in the US. But the reason it wont happen in the US is because of the stupendous law-enforcement in this country.

Going by an example, a female employee in my company here complained to the HR about Sexual harassment in the office. Now you obviously are keen to know what happened! Nothing happened my friend.. the male employee supposedly sent a Facebook-friendship invitation to this lady! I agree with your thinking that this is absurd.. but my point here is about the level of confidence people here have in the law enforcement groups. Hence if the Sena really wishes to safeguard anything, then first it is the safety of the females in Mumbai which is already in jeopardy. Even though Mumbai is one of the safest places for females in the country, we regularly read stories of the attrocities committed on them not just by the general public but also by people who are supposed to enforce law and order in the city.

Love exists between every true couple irrespective of whether it starts before or after marriage. So curbing it will never solve the problem. To put it in simple and straight words to the Sena, tackle the actual problem rather than curbing down people's freedom. Or to be even more straight, be ready with the sticks to punish the actual criminals, rather than, beating the innocents by proclaiming that they might be in trouble later!

Time to sign-off guys.. or else, my Valentine who also happens to be my wife now, could overtake my high-score in her iPhone game! May be from the next time I should stop giving these kinda V-gifts. (Oops! am I thinking like the Sena.. am I over-looking the actual problem?!? :D)

Bye guys, Blog to you soon.
Raghu