Cupid's Day

The hearts in the mastheads of a few national dailies were an early morning reminder to Valentine's Day. The papers ran amok -- they had articles on couples who sizzle, guides for the romantically challenged, a 'did you know' about the world's most expensive V-Day card, etc., etc., etc. Elsewhere in the US, Valentine’s Day is a $14-billion industry they wrote. India, too, is raking in the moolah. So TV channels are playing it up to the hilt and radio stations are in their moony best.

I am a hopeless romantic but I have never celebrated Valentine's Day. I am, in fact, quite at odds with V-dayers and the parties, the candle-light dinners, the exchange of gifts, and so on. A colleague looked at me and said “you must be definitely going for a party tonight’. People assume too much. Also, little did she know I am still waiting for the God of love to oblige me with that one-of-its-kind Valentine date. My only connect to all things love(ly) today has been the SMSes from all and sundry. Even as I pen this, beep comes a 'happy Valentine's Day mausi' from my cousin's 12-year-old daughter. The first from my friend Natasha in Sydney said: If you are single wear pink, if not wear some colour (I forget). Do I call this madness or do I call this love?

It is funny the things people do in the name of love. I envy people with this feverish buff of energy I would say (something I lack, perhaps plain lazy) -- picking flowers to express themselves, planning surprises, taking hours of life away thinking how all to please the other... I remember a friend who filled her rooms with balloons and candles and ordered food to spend a memorable V-Day only to find the beau was so caught up at work that by the time he arrived, the candles were burnt out, the food cold and she fuming. Very filmy! I told her, what to me, was almost true, nothing happens when you plan too much. But it was just one of a case, I am sure she had happier times to make amends. Hmmm... I am just rambling, losing my mind I guess trying to make sense of the hoopla around this day. Happy Valentine's Day all the same!