ROURKELA: To mitigate the impact of so-called cultural invasion, courtesy Valentine’s Day celebrations, the day was instead being observed as ‘Pitru and Matru divas’ by Yoga Vedanta Seva Samiti (YVSS) of Godman Asharam Babu.
The YVSS’ worship of parents programme at Baji Rout School and Nilamadhav School today saw over 700 parents and children participating in the event. In fact, the YVSS has initiated the programme a week back and has so far covered more than 2,000 parents and children.
Even as the V-Day craze has caught the urban India, the traditional approach of the YVSS has found staunch support from the protective parents. RSP employee Debjit Satpathy turned up at a YVSS programme with his daughter without much persuasion.
YVSS organiser SK Sarangi termed the practice as a potent tool to shield youngsters from getting swayed by ‘ill- practices of the West even as they connect with their roots by showing respect to elders. He, however, complained that most English medium schools were reluctant to join the rituals.
On the other hand, the moral police of Bajrang Dal (BD) activists were on the prowl looking for lovebirds. Unlike last year when three young couples were publicly humiliated, they had no ‘prize catch’ this time around.
The Saffron brigade has always added more punch to the event. Earlier, they had burnt all Valentine’s Day cards much to the chagrin of vendors. Fearing action, the florists too were cautious. “I had halved the stock as things are very dicey at this time, but could sell them all for four times the usual rates, said a vendor Babuli Nayak.