Okay, this is my first op-ed article. I missed out the MMGL and Chakravarthy gari show on Feb 17th 2012. Chakravarthy gari show started out well. I wish him success. However I have few issues with folks who live and talk the perfect world. Folks suddenly leave they ground and loose the plot. Let me put few of my issues with this Valentine’s day thing which I respectfully differ with Chakravarthy garu. My little expression is addressed to him.
Do we need to celebrate the V’day ?
I say we do not need to celebrate every thing western in India. How about Oktoberfest ? How about a dog meat eating festival in korean tradition ? Certain festivals have significance in the specific regions of the world. The genesis of the festival has much to do with the times of the society than anything. The theme of most festivals at a higher level is to celebrate the “Good” over “bad” or celebrate birthdays of great humans/Gods. We celebrate birthdays of great people (Rama, Krishna, Gandhi,Bose, ..) we celebrate changes in nature (Ugadi, Sankranthi). We even celebrate Christmas which is not native to India. And so is Ramzan. Jesus is a Jew, lived in another country. He has no business in India to be celebrated on his birthday. Yet Christmas is a holiday for everyone in India. Why ? Christ had godly qualities and ended up as a God. In summary folks celebrate festivals even if they are of foreign origin when the message is relevant. Case in point, Obama celebrated Diwali in the whitehouse. Coming back to the V’day, the message is rather loose. A priest is killed by the king and he dies with hidden love to whom ????,,,, hmmm not for Jesus but a jailer’s daughter. Wow. That’s one heck of a priest who is THE SYMBOL OF LOVE. We are searching for a question to the answers we have. We are adopting whatever the festival that comes in our way. That’s just like celebrating Martin Luther King birthday and forgetting October 2nd. Long story short V’Day hype is made up by the English speaking media. Who has nothing better to do than get ratings for their channel. Not to go personal, but I wonder how on earth these english TV hosts feel if their daughters end up in a bad situation as a result of this V’Day. Do they talk about the bad thing on the TV ? Do they have the guts to be on their great english speaking, libertarian, know it all elite media channel. Never, Nope, Nunca, Nada.
How do you celebrate V’Day ?
By giving greeting cards ? or the couple goes to the temple/church or mosque (not sure there is a tradition) or go to a movie ? or drive 20 kilometers outside the city ? For what ? Oh, I get it, you are a libertarian and you do not want to be questioned about your whereabouts.So I am not going ask where the couples are going , but I sure will ask the details of what they are doing on the outskirts. I am expect that you know what happens in the name of Valentine’s day. Suffice it to say that there is an ulterior motive behind the whole thing.
Why is it a society problem ?
Hell ya, this is not a private issue. Go buy an island and live there alone if you think its an individual issue. When you are living in Chintal Basti, you better behave like one from the Basti. Today it will be Salim’s sister going outskirts and tomorrow it will be Sankaranna’s daughter. So do not talk about the legality of a boy and girl going out. There is more to it than just going out. Not everyone is smart enough to draw the line when they are young. Koby Bryant did it. Forget young, even that old IMF dude who is praised by folks did few things not appreciable. These are smart and influential people who did the unthinkable (well thinkable now). The kids back home have no idea, they can easily trapped into having relationships that are not appropriate resulting in creating Koby’s if not Clintons.
Who has the right to stop it ?
This, this right here is the main issue. I beg to differ with you on who questions the kids. While I do not agree with their tactics I think there should be checks and balances on how this issue should be handled.
You are saying its parent’s business to stop a son or daughter. Oh well, not everyone is educated in India, I mean culturally educated. To put simply folks think about Valentine’s day as a day for couples/lovers to express love. The “Express” part is where the issue lies. As I previously wrote, some couple express by giving greeting cards. Some express by giving gifts. Some go to movie and others go to “outskirts”. I get that its individual liberty that lets the couple do anything. But their individual liberty is instigating thousands of young adults to go to outskirts. The moment a trend is born, oh well, India will be a welfare state (your beloved) with kids born out of wedlock on a large scale ( this is the worst case scenario). This particular situation will not happen to kids of a guy who lived overseas for years. It happens to the sons and daughters of folks whose main issue is to get food on the table. When a country with a 99% population does not know who the heck is St. Valentine, they have no clue about the consequences of these festivals. That is the precise moment for someone else to enforce it. Ideally I will not support Bhajarang Dal or that Muslim organizations forcing their will on couples, but then there is a pretty good chance that some poor kids will be longing to go to outskirts.
So there you have it, the 1% of the folks need individual liberty while the bottom 80% need someone to look after them. Again, while I am not supporting the method of these Bhajrang Dal folks, but I support their motive.
And , OBTW, A true capitalist might approve me, a fake one must be feeling biter for not making extra dough in the name of V’Day.
Seems like I missed some lively discussion. 🙂 Since I didn’t hear the original topic (still not understanding what is this going to ‘outskirts’ on Valentine’s day!) don’t have much comments or my comments will be out of place, but one thing I want to say is, Culture is a fad. It is a passing thing and won’t last the way it is and will evolve. No one can stop that, especially when the means to communicate and socialize are radically changing. Those of us who relished and enjoyed a cultural phenomenon will try to preserve it and extend it but can only postpone it’s change for sometime, at the most!
I totally agree with Bhanu Prakash garu and this was the point I was making on the show when I called chakravarthy garu. We all are seeing only one side of the whole problem. It is complaining that one’s house is burgled after leaving the door open and allowing the burglars to burgle the house. Before we complain on the burglers, we should retrospect if we gave them an offer to burgle our home. I am in no way defending nor supporting the action of the hindu/muslim or any religion fanatics who try to impose their code on public. But at the same time not supporting the so called “couples” going to outskirts to express/show their “love”. I do not see any reason why a couple should go to outskirts on a valentine’s day to express/show to their love to one another. By going to these places you are providing an opportunity for all these groups to hog the media attention which is what they will be looking for.
And who are these couples? Aren’t they college going students? I think the question one should ask them what are they doing in these places when they should be in the college at that time. If I was one of the younger ones, I would not like anyone to steal my space as an youngster which is what the religious fanatics are doing and at the same time I would be thinking that my parents are a generation old and not changing with times if they try to put some sense to me.
Corruption in India: Yes. Corruption is there in India. Is there any country which is corruption free? I do not think so. For the sake of comparison let me take a country and compare it with india on where corruption stands. Since I am in USA, I think this could be a perfect example as chakravarthy garu was also in india for 18 yrs before he moves back.
USA is as corrupted as India is and the only difference is that in USA, you do not have to pay bribe for death certificate. In India corruption is in the roots where as in USA, it is in the level very high. But as an NRI,c an I complain? During my visits to India, I experienced corruption/bribes to which I am totally against. But what did I do to clean or help cleaning the system. Nothing..I am in a foreign land making lakhs and crores of rupees and buying properties in India and waiting for the value of my properties to multiply. And one fine day, I realize that I want to go back to my own country and spend rest of my life with my parents. Then I see all the irregularities and complain. Well for the readers, I will be eventually moving back to india. This is my own plan and not pointing my finger at anyone. I did not even vote to elect the right leaders to represent me in the government. So, I did not do my job expected as an Indian. So, I have no reason to complain.
“Koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota, use perfect banana padta hai.
Police mein bharti honge, military join karenge. IAS ban kar is desh ki sarkar chalaenge.
Ye desh badlega, hum badlenge isse”
Bayata kurchini ila vundaali ala vundaali ani cheppadam chala easy..What did I do to fix this when I know that this problem is there since decades..It is always easy to throw mud..But who will clean it if people like me who have a responsibility stay outside India for complain about it.
MY INTENTION IS NOT TO HURT ANYONE. MY SINCERE APOLOGIES IF I DID.
Bhanu Prakash –
I agree with you on the commercial interests pushing the cultural changes across all cultures. This trend is probably not a good thing. Still, it is up to parents and individuals to decide what’s good for their kids and for themselves. BTW, However, crass commercialization of Christmas or even Diwali is no more pious than commercializing Valentine’s Day.
I do agree with Chakravarthy in principle about Bhajarangadal not dictating what is right and what is wrong. It would be my job as a parent to give my kids a value system that is I see as deemed fit.
I would like to see how many of these Bhajarang Dalwalas are wearing dhothi-kanduvas instead of pants and shirts. How come wearing western clothes is acceptable to them and embracing some other cultural aspect is not? Who gets to choose what is acceptable and what is not? Who gives them the authority to be the moral police?