Cupid Came & Went Away !

Valentine's Day - A day of corny posts on social media!

It is that time of the year again! Spring is knocking at the door - the warm sunshine feels great amid the slight chill in the air, a delicate scent of flowers lingers in the early morning breeze, and even my neglected garden tries to look good without any help. And I almost forgot that it is the season of love too; through branded merchandise, and corny posts shared on social media.

Valentine's day has a long history. I particularly enjoyed reading through Devdutt Pattanaik's Return of the Love-God about the origins of the day and similar celebrations across different cultures. I also unsuccessfully tried to overlook any news covering vandalism caused by certain groups who, every year, make their presence felt on this day by harassing hapless couples. Well, it is hard to ignore the other side of the coin!

While I absolutely hate the commercialization of emotions (and that does not restrict to Valentine's day only), I genuinely feel sorry for those couples who sneaked out of their houses on this day, away from the prying eyes of neighbors and family members, only to meet a bunch of self-appointed guardians of society and get humiliated by them for being in love.

Recently, I came across this particular post on Humans of New York. It gives a glimpse of the ordeal the couple faces just to see each other on a regular day. Just imagine how difficult it might be for them to meet on Valentine's day, courtesy some ancient notions about caste. Well, no one is immune to Cupid's arrow; some, like this couple, are struck with the arrow tipped with gold and the rest, like the followers of casteism, regionalism, communalism etc. etc. are unfortunately struck with the one tipped with lead. And Cupid mischievously got away after unleashing chaos in the mortal world.

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Protective Mothers or Rape Deniers?

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