Celebrating the month of love…

Come February, and it is the time for falling hearts and striking cupids … the overkill of red and pink everywhere … mushy puppy love spilling over the Valentine week … It is also the time for the self proclaimed custodians of the Indian culture to resort to bullying tactics, and then the pink chaddi campaigns in protest!

My take on St. Valentine celebrations is simple – I love the gifts and attention from my significant other – and I don’t mind if Valentine’s Day is the excuse. I quite enjoy the paraphernalia – though mostly commercial – that mark the alleged “love month” - and as long as there’s no serious ill-will on any side, nobody’s heart minds a little fluttering, does it? More details in my post here.

However, the best part of February is the fact that it rains saccharine sweet romances on the idiot box all month long. The sucker for such sickeningly sweet nothings that I am, I love cozying up to my favorite love stories on TV, watching them all over again, for the nth time!

Here are my top picks (in the order in which I recall them :)):

Gone With The Wind

The mother of all romance films. True love can endure anything.

Serendipity

The name of the movie is as beautiful as the movie it self! The concept of fortune discoveries is so romantic…

Love Story

Based on Eric Segal’s novel by the same name, is one of the most romantic tragedies ever.

Love Actually

Set in London, with predominantly British actors, the interwoven 10 tales in the five week countdown to Christmas is an all-season treat!

Notting Hill

There’s something irresistible about British romances! The movie has a magnificent dream like quality to it. And Hugh Grant is a treat, always!

Titanic

The epic romance on the ill-fated ship…

P.S. I Love You

I have said this before – this movie reinstills your belief in love but breaks your heart.

Moulin Rouge!

This stylish musical is a love anthem all the way!

The Notebook

The poetically serene story of a couple in love, separated by class, joined in marriage, estranged by dementia and then finally reunited for ever in death. A classic.

50 First Dates

The Hawaiian romance with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore along with the unique memory problem thrown in makes for an “awwww…” experience!

When Harry Met Sally

The different perspectives on relationships and yet the binding force remains the same – love!

Pretty Woman

This one only for the suave Gere and his fantastic chemistry with Julia Roberts.

(Image source for all pictures: Wikipedia)

Love is in the air...

...or so we hope :).

Naah, I am no ardent St. Valentine believer or follower but I don't mind the usual stir around Valentine's Day...the stupendously priced roses, the overkill of red and pink on newspapers, card and gift galleries and all magazine covers, and ofcourse the silly, yet extravagant dinner and luncheon buffets organized everywhere - from your local restaurant to the five-stars.

I don't disagree that the day of lovers is nothing but a commercially fueled phenomenon; add to that the peer pressure of outdoing each other in making your loved one feel special - the perfect recipe for boost of sales of any retail enterprise. But, you know what- it's cute as well.
Young school and college students holding hands and sharing the same icecream with the so called love of their life - most of these loves don't even last through the semester. Then, ofcourse are the more serious types, the extremists and all that. Yawn, I'll let them pass - don't want to lambaste them today.

My personal experience with the fourteenth day of February has not been very noteworthy. In school, all instances were spent giggling and linking friends to everyone possible. College years were spent trashing all these giddy and lovey-dovey theater smooching couples (for the uninitiated, these are the couples that are at their intimate best only in the darkness of the movie halls); by the way, one of the Valentine's was spent writing the CAT (MBA entrance). And then another one working.

And then, love happened - the last two years before my wedding were spent in exchanging adorable tokens of affection. The best one has been the music composition that Vish created for me. I think it was most unique and romantic.

This is my second Valentine after marriage and as we laze around teasing each other how unlike the "before" years, we are not running helter-skelter to surprise each other, and would rather best the spend the day relaxing, eating good food and catching a couple of movies, we realize that Valentine's day is much-ado about nothing - blown out of proportion, not only by the youngsters and bollywood, but also by the likes of Ram Sena. Today Valentine's day is all about the pink-chaddi campaign, the hug-karo and pub-bharo andolans and media-hype. My advice to those smitten by the love bug (never mind if it's for real or not), just chill, sit back and enjoy, do what you what to do - and for those who are averse to it, the rebels without a cause - please get a life or atleast a "real" cause...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Goons and moral policing

It has happened so many times, in so many places: Delhi, Meerut, Bangalore, Mangalore. The self-proclaimed moral police pick up broomsticks to clean the society.
And, this cleaning involves physical violence, lathi charges and indiscriminate abuse perpetrated against the "wrong-doers", the "immoral" souls and the "westernized" thought-bearers, who are primarily between the ages of 17-30; choose to club-hop, take a stroll on the beach with their friend, engage in some sort of intimacy in the public parks away from the prying eyes of their families, get a little over-mushy at the idea of Valentine's Day, sit a little too close in the theater playing the recent romantic flick, date in Mc Donald's and Cafe' Coffee Day and most importantly are normal human beings who get attracted to other human beings of the opposite sex (or the same sex) and want to be with them.

The images of the frenzied brutality by the likes of RSS, Bajrang Dal, BJP, Shiv Sena flashed on all the news channels for the past fortnight have left me aghast. In the name of Indian culture, the country is breeding a pedigree of barbarous goons. These ruffians slap a girl who is walking with her boyfriend but have the most number of illicit affairs possible. They proclaim on national media that a woman and a man should hold hands only if they are married but pretend blissful ignorance of what their kids are upto in the very same dating places. They want women to wear Indian clothes as any western outfit is the hallmark of a characterless woman, but they secretly lust after sleazily dressed women in all the C and D grade movies. Frustrated with themselves, perverted to the core and vicious in mind and spirit, they threaten to change the face of the modern India.

What is the difference between these law breakers and the much terrified Taliban? Both equal in mindless cruelty, total disregard for respect of the other, desecration of social, communal and national ethos and complete religious aberration. I don't care what party or god they belong to or beleive in; they surely do not deserve to be treated as human beings and the law enforcers of this country need to ensure they get the worst possible punishment.

What a woman or man drinks, wears, watches and with whom he/she goes out with or sleeps in with, as long as done with one's own individual freedom of choice is nobody's business. We are a free, sovereign country and we are adults; we can manage our liberty. We do not need moral policing by a set of b@#$%^&s with unenviable criminal records. Spare us please; do not fetter our freedom, our spirits.