Valentine's Day Part 1: Symbol of Freedom of Expression

14th February is considered as a day of love throughout the western world and as the influence of Western world over other parts of world is growing so as the blind imitation of their customs and festivals is increasing. For example, in India we celebrate 1st January as the New Year’s Day and had forgotten that when our own new year does begin. Similarly our own “Vasant Panchmi” had taken a back seat and now Valentine’s Day is our official Love Day.

This blind following is not unique as since ages the lower or minority class people had tried to emulate the customs, rituals, festivals and life styles of the people belonging to upper or dominant class. In ancient India this had happened under the concept of Sanskritization and now same thing is happening in case of Westernization of Indian Culture. However, now the moral police of India are objecting as this time they are finding themselves on the receiving end. They were not objecting rather considered it as a matter of pride when India had exported it culture to oriental countries under the guise of religion. The great Ashoka had sent his own children (Sanghmitra and Mahendra) to Shri Lanka for propagation of Buddhism and related culture.

So firstly we have to under and appreciate that culture is a fluid and dynamic concept that tries to evolve with time by adapting to elements of superior cultures. Influence of Greeks, Turks, Mughals etc on Indian culture can be categorized and understood in that regard. Therefore there is no surprise that those who regards Valentine Day as unethical (merely because it is not Indian) all also those who consider that all Muslims have allegiance towards Pakistan and thus all of them should be bundled together and deported to Pakistan. They have a false notion about Indian culture as Indian culture had withstood the tests of times mainly because it never shied away from adapting to and assimilating other cultures thus keeping itself grounded to ground realities. On the other hand Indian culture of which time shall be considered as Indian culture as India had different cultures at different times (the ancient, medieval and modern India had drastically different cultures).

By the way Culture means the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization so Indian culture is some total of the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of Indian society. Therefore, whether or not the Valentine day is part of Indian Culture can only be ascertained by observing the attitudes and behavior of Indian society and by the media coverage, celebrations, merchandises bought & sold and protests on 14th, anyone can decipher that Valentine’s Day is a reality in India. Now if we call this day as non-Indian can mean only three things:

• We do not want to keep the culture static and rigid but that is antithetical to the very notion of culture.
• We want to turn a blind eye towards changing attitudes and behaviors of Indian society.
• All those who celebrate Valentine’s Day and are influenced by the western culture are enemy aliens.

However this discussion leads to few important questions

• Who are those that are opposing these celebrations?
• Why they are opposing these celebrations?
• Will they be successful or should they be opposed?