Valentines Day, also known as St. Valentines Day, is celebrated across the globe every year on February 14 when couples express their love for one another by presenting each other with flowers, chocolates, greeting cards and even jewellery and going out on dates and spending time together.
Although it is traditionally a Western holiday, the celebration of Valentines Day has gained momentum in India over the last couple of years, especially in the younger generation who take the opportunity to express their love for their significant other on the most romantic holiday of the year by showering them with gifts and affection.
However, the celebration has turned into a spectacle with many people feeling the pressure as FOMO, or the Fear of Missing out, strikes deep into the hearts of youngsters who make desperate attempts to get a date, so they also experience the joy of the occasion as everyone around them seems to be doing the same.
This is so common that it even has a term for it called ‘Valentines Day Blues’, when some individuals get struck by feelings of sadness, loneliness, and anxiety due to societal norms and cultural expectations surrounding the holiday.
The occasion has become extremely popularised by social media for added engagement and commercialised by many companies and businesses that sell confectionaries, soft toys, flowers, perfumes and skincare brands, etc. as they further promote the holiday for their interests seeking to increase the sales of their products. As such, the constant attention and widespread advertisements and marketing heighten the FOMO and Valentines Day starts feeling unavoidable.
Additionally, the companies and businesses also sharply increase the prices of their products which cost far less on other days of the year, leading to financial anxiety on a day that is supposed to be about love.
The occasion of Valentines Day is marked by a gloomy cloud of emotions in many individuals who may experience a rush of memories of past years as they remember their previous romantic failures followed by the remnants of the old heartbreaks which comes forth to strike the heart once more.
The day is also often marred for many couples who end up having high expectations due to all the hype surrounding the Valentines Day festivities, especially among working couples, as workplaces do no give a holiday on this occasion, which leads to feelings of disappointment in case of cancelled dates.
Perhaps the biggest cause of anxiety on Valentines Day in India can be attributed to the cases of moral policing by extremist right-wing organisations and political parties who send out their henchmen to different places in order to catch young couples hanging out and shame them for it, causing grave anxiety and embarrassment to the respective individuals and their families.
The day is supposed to be about romance and expressing love and affection, and these things are not wrong or shameful so why is our society so threatened by it even as crimes like corruption, rape, domestic violence are easily forgotten? It is a question worth pondering.
(All views and opinions expressed in the article are the author's own)
