Painting the city red?!

I see the city painted red...n I feel sick!

I was on my way to office...as usual in the trichakra yaana...we pass the main road n I see hoards of girls...many look like school kids...some college kids too...many from the lower or middle class backgrounds...almost all dressed in red, paying their tribute to St Valentine! n I feel sick!

no, no, I am not one of those flag bearing, slogan shouting culture police types. In fact I feel sick when I see/hear/read about them too. I believe in individual freedom, human rights and all dat 'typical urban middleclass pseudo intellectual' notions.

Nor am I a cynic...a 'hoovu haasige chandra chandana' or a 'dard ke phool'is very much part of my dreams...n life. A 'die-hard romantic' would be the term.

But I felt sick yeasterday...

If couples have a nice evening together and the bahaana of Valentines jus adds flavour, who am I to crib! Our culture is quite strong based for a poor St Valentine to shatter it. It is irritating the way the culture police reacts to this...getting the couple married! how ridiculous can they get! A bunch of jokers who make hell out of others lives!

Back to the girls on the main road. Yep, its but natural in that age(he he! yes, today i am feeling like a grandma!) to get attracted to the other sex. But the mass hysteria over getting a valentine! Jus see what it is doing to their lives! I did have my share of crushes(ya ya, I continue to have a fair share to date:D)...but there were other things in life that were important too...studies, literature, music, friends... Somehow this excessive hype over valentines n the bf/gf aquisitions make me feel these ppl are messing up their lives. These are the formative years in one's life, and if one gets the priority wrong, life can just turn into a huge regret later. n I feel all the hype of this card-culture is jus the raajmaarg to that! I feel these kids dont know how to handle life...may be I am realy growing old! I dunno why I felt for them...I jus felt sick... Is there a way out?!