lou-day

happy V day !

and lets take a minute here and mourn the death of all the poor souls who were murdered by activists today in the name of "indian culture" !!

CNN IBN asks : " Do you think , Valentine's Day is ruining Indian Culture ? "

I cant even begin to write about the flaws in that question !!

what is Indian Culture ?

Ok lets take in one at a time . What is CULTURE ?

def : " The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. "

now what part of that sentence says that culture is defined by lifestyle followed in the middle ages !?!
why is what we do NOW , in the PRESENT , not CULTURE ?!

I say ...
watching bollywood movies is culture , eating cheap indo-chinese food off road side carts is culture , listening to rehman's work is culture , participating in college fests is culture , jogging or (in some cases) not-jogging in the morning is culture , wearing kurta and jeans with jholas or switcher tees is culture , hanging around with friends in the canteen in culture , worshiping cricket is culture ,watching american comedy sitcoms is culture , group studies one day before the exam is culture , talking about science / politics / sports and culture in culture , reading books - indian author or foreign is culture , swearig - wether in punjabi or italian is culture , chatting on the net is culture , smsing is culture , doing thigs to make your folks happy is culture , fighting against wrong is culture .... anything ppl do is culture ; and as ppl evolve with time , so does culture .

so what exactly is "Indian Culture" ?
Where do you draw the line ?
and , more importantly , Who draws this line ?
It's a collective phenomenon , and the patterns keep changing with time .
No one person or group has any right , authority or power to change these patterns .

Now all these ppl who want to stick by " doble quotes - INDIAN CULTURE - double quotes " .
what do you want from us ?

that we start living like how we used to in 12th century ?!!
tell you what , I say lets go even before that ... lets all become "early men " . come to think of it that is our TRUE culture . I say lets walk around in our birthday dresses and start hunting !!

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Coming back to Valentine's Day :
a. I personally feel it's a product of consumerism in India . But so what ? If anything , it's only providing business opportunities and aiding commerce .
b. It's an yearly reminder , asking me to kill myself for being single , at a time when even King Kong has gotten himself a girl friend !!