Does love need a day?

While the world celebrates the day of love, a few denizens of the city dismiss V-Day as a marketing gimmick.
Does love need a day?

While the world celebrates the day of love, a few denizens of the city dismiss V-Day as a marketing gimmick.  They say love is a sublimal experience and doesn’t have to be expressed via expensive gifts and surprises.

CHENNAI: This is no ordinary love story. This married couple have hit have more than six decades together and they’re very much in love even today. “Every day is Valentine’s Day for us,” says Bharatanatyam dancer VP Dhananjayan.

Popularly known as the Dhananjayans, VP and Shanta Dhananjayan, have known each other for over 60 years. As the world prepares to celebrate the day of love, there many who don’t subscribe to the idea of dedicating a day to love.

“Valentine’s Day is a western concept. It does have a history and has been adopted by people across the globe. But it has become a day for the younger generation to flaunt money to make someone feel special,” shares Venkatesh G, general manager at a private firm.

Celebrated as the ‘month of love’, most shops, cafes and restaurants, have special deals, offers, programmes to entice young lovers, and even some enthusiastic senior citizens, too. While many people think that this is the perfect day to confess or express their love, there are others who feel love needs no expression. “Love is an experience, it should come from within. It is a feeling of warmth, so why wait till February 14 to express that?” asks Madan, a city-based auditor.

Echoing his sentiment is city-based model Sahithya Jagannathan, “I don’t believe in it either. It is, after all, just a marketing gimmick.”

People insist on mutual understanding and being able to rely on each other as qualities to have, and not give gifts and surprises to convey the message. “My husband works abroad and I take care of everything in the house. It is not easy, but I know he likes his job and doesn’t want to retire. So I don’t mind doing this. Similarly, he also understands a lot of my needs,” says Supriya V, a homemaker.

Susan Joseph, another homemaker, and her husband believe in finding happiness in the smaller things in life. “Even a smile every day makes a lot of difference. Today, people want to celebrate everything in a grand manner, but for us, it is not like that,” she clarifies. Point taken!

For these couples and their ilk, love does not exist in roses, rings, balloons, cakes or chocolates but in little things that we often take for granted. “Once my husband asked me to buy my own birthday card. We don’t know how to do that also,” laughs Supriya.

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The New Indian Express
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