Valentine's Day is the day when Kamadeva, the god of love or desire, would invoke the spirit of Tom Hank's Forrest Gump and take to his heels. Against the legends, in the new age, it is not Shiva who kills Kama, but he is preyed upon by fundamentalists in the name of pseudo morality. And to mark the modern-day rituals, lovers around India will be chased today from parks, cinema halls, college campuses and restaurants by the (pseudo) moral police.
Can't blame fundamentalists for their hatred against love or lust, for all they know is the dust accumulated on the wraps of the scriptures they know little about. In them, love trips the fear cable like how thunder or earthquake used to work in the brains of cavemen. Sigmund Freud seems so timely when he called “religion an illusion based on human wishes”. And that illusion headquarters these moral police today.
One thing that beats me is why we lovers wait for a day to test our adversaries’ patience. Why can't we give them a display of love and affection every day, in bits and pieces, and help these fundamentally challenged people out of their phobia. It would be an awesome-twosome, as it could work wonders in your love life also.
If you think love is all about V Day dinner and gift exchange, I would say you go get beaten up by the men with peanut-sized (c’mon don't beep me yet, I was going to say brain). If you are eager for a serious companionship, then you should not wait for a day to spoil your loved one with gifts and bouquets. Go make roses of smiles bloom on your lover's lips every day, and wait for that precious return gifts.
Just like the fanatics have issues with love, we have a thing against lust. It is now hard to believe that at one point in time, our society was open minded to allow lust its due space. Instead of tabooing the feeling, it should be the right of the individuals involved to decide how they want their feelings to evolve.
OshoIn 'Hidden Splendor', Osho writes, "Two persons can be very loving together. The more loving they are, the less is the possibility of any relationship. The more loving they are, the more freedom exists between them. The more loving they are, the less is the possibility of any demand, any domination, any expectation. And naturally, there is no question of any frustration.” Romantics, hear me before your shoot-to- kill, he used relationship only to refer to losing the fluid nature of love (no pun intended) by pinning demands and expectations around it.
Every day in our life should be a Vasantotsava and love should be celebrated with all its freedom. Let poor Kamadeva live, let's not kill a god just because we have umpteen others like him.
(Opinions expressed here are personal)
