This Valentine's Day..

Flipping through the morning paper today, the first thought that hit me was “ there’s a lot of pink there”...and no, the newspaper wasn’t dyed pink. The pink colour was attributed to the fact that there were innumerable advertisements – all in pink hinting people that Valentine’s day was approaching. Subtle advertising has made way to new generation “In-you-face” ads. Ad’s ranging from gold and diamond jewellery to holidays to chocolates to slimming centres even – all announcing the arrival of ‘V’ day. Somehow, all ad makers feel that pink will actually make your heart go all mush. They probably need to rethink. Too much pink actually made me dump the paper in a waste basket today. Whatever happened to creative thinking?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have no problems at all with Valentine’s day. In fact, it comes under “one of my favourite day” category and no - not like I have any special someone who can shower gifts, but its one of my favourite days because the concept actually has a very innocent love story behind it.

What I object to is the mass commercialization of this day. Look around you. At least a couple of weeks before Valentine’s day, you will find jewellers, fashion stores, restaurants – all trying to tell you what you need to gift your so called ‘ Valentine’ in order to proclaim your ‘Undying love’. Is love that simple? An expensive gift and the job’s done?

Why cant people realize that Valentine’s day isn’t just all about expensive gifts or holidays or high-end dinners. That a simple but heartfelt letter or a personalized note or maybe taking time out to bake that special cake is all it takes. Valentine’s day is about showing your true feelings to the person you care about and not just taking an easy way out by showering expensive gifts. Take some pains to show the person that you love them.

Valentine’s day has a beautiful story behind it about St. Valentine who secretly used to perform marriage rituals for soldiers in Rome who otherwise were forbidden by the king to marry. On having found this out, St. Valentine was locked up in jail where he secretly fell in love with the jailor’s daughter. On his execution day, he sent a note to his lady-love signing it as ‘ Your Valentine’. The concept of signing letters anonymously as from your Valentine on this day has been taken from this story.

Now, I am not sure what percentage of truth this story holds, but it does make you realize that love isn’t about flashy gifts or holidays. It’s about understanding the simplicity of the emotion and making the other person feel valued and special. 

The concept seems to have been lost in today’s commercialized world where advertising guru’s feed it into your head that love is all about flashy gold and diamond jewellery and that they are indispensible when it comes to proclaiming your feelings.

Cant we just think about this and maybe just this once, be a little genuine in our feelings by being ourselves and without the ladder of expensive gifts, be true in proclaiming our feelings? Like above, a simple letter will go a long way in strengthening the bond rather than a dinner in a 5 star hotel. 20 years from now on – you will find that the letter will be a prized possession and bring memories back.

So, in all simplicity – be true and be genuine this V’ day and maybe St. Valentine will be a relieved man from the skies to see that his ways are still strong as opposed to the commercial ways of marketing today.