Love in the time of Valentine days...

These days, love is in air everywhere! My cell phone is buzzing every two minutes, with messages of special offers for Valentine day. One message guarantees "lifetime experience" with my special someone at a five star hotel, another message from a florist, offers special discount on a designer bouquet, in third message, a travel guy wants to make sure I have booking for any place I wish to celebrate my special day and the fourth one, from a chocolatier is trying hard to sell her Valentine day special, platinum collection called "dark secrets". Since past few days, I am feeling giddy with overdose of heart shaped balloons, candy boxes and cards in colour red and pink that I see everywhere.

I love celebrations. But commercialization of Valentine day celebration deeply annoys me. It is appalling to witness love being sold as commodity! The notion of "romantic, true love" and promise of "happily ever after" is a creation of media and some industries that make huge money out of this farce. Surprising part is, there are plenty of takers subscribing to it! They are willing to go to any extent even if that means undergoing tremendous pressure just to confine to the ways it is "supposed" to be celebrated!

Expression of love is beautiful but it need not always be in the form of quintessential gifts or particular manner of celebration assigned to Valentine day. Love is a very powerful, personal emotion. The feeling of being appreciated for what you are, being accepted, being cared for without any selfish motives, and being understood is priceless! How can this very essential part of one's relationship be outsourced or automated when there is hardly any consideration to its core ingredients? How far should commercialization be allowed to intrude our personal spaces?

I have always been very fortunate to have lots of love and attention. My best gifts that I cherish most are not the very expensive things that I receive as gifts. They are little thoughtful gestures by the people around me. Things they do just to see a smile on my face! A buddy getting up at four am in Delhi winter and catching  early flight to Mumbai  to spend few hours with me despite the maddening busy schedule, another one calling me up from a different continent to say that I am being missed because he happens to be at some lovely art exhibition that matches my taste, or my dearest friend, a successful businessman and a very fine human being, discussing every possible topic under the sun with me and also understand and appreciate the phases of silence together. My husband and son, tolerating me when I know I am difficult to live with sometimes. The beautiful mails and plenty of messages that are shared with me every day and the prayers that are sent my way are all God's way of telling me that he really cares for me and loves me deeply.

I am not against celebrating Valentine day. Like any other woman, I love gifts, candle light dinners and all the mushy things this day promises to bring. The abhorrent craze attached to it is what I find very repugnant! Love is always around us, we just need to appreciate it! Every day! It can come from the most unexpected source like a perfect stranger doing something incredible and touching our heart deeply.

Love, for me is when my husband kisses my forehead before leaving for office after the severe fight of previous night. Love, for me is when my father, at age of seventy four, flirts with my mother and sings songs that make her blush even after marriage of more than five decades! Love, for me is when my son encourages and supports me to have my own life and follow my dreams. I know, I don't need a Valentine day to experience it. It is all around me. Always! Touchwood!!!