Celebration of Valentine’s Day

Gautam Ganguly

(gautamganguly2012@gmail.com)

The pomp and splendour, the engulfing euphoria, craze, and passion witnessed, of late, at the celebration of Valentine’s Day by vibrant enthusiasts obliterating all differences like caste, religion, nationalities, etc., compelled me to run to ‘Google’, the mother of all ‘search engines’, to comprehend its connotation and significance. Among many mythological explanations about the origin of Valentine’s Day celebrations, the most acceptable explanation is the one that states that during the days of the Roman kingdom, the Roman Emperor Claudius II was trying to bolster his army, and he forbade young men to marry. The Roman emperor believed that ‘single men made better soldiers’. Valentine defied the ban and performed secret marriages glorifying the spirit of love, and he was executed on February 14. Consequently, February 14 symbolises the magnificence of romance, besides paying tribute to St. Valentine, the ‘beatific martyr’, who had sacrificed his life in honour of love’. 

The history of civilization is replete with endless instances of celebrities from different walks of life being ardent devotees of the Roman God, Cupid. A cursory glance familiarises us with interesting anecdotes involving luminaries who had hogged limelight as much by their spectacular public performances as by their off-field romantic activities.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, two of the immortal Hollywood celebrities, met on the sets of the Hollywood classic movie ‘Cleopatra’, heralding the beginning of one of the most publicised, captivating love stories of all time. However, while Burton remained loyal to his lady-love, Elizabeth’s relentless quest for new  ‘love-partners’  was fierce and all pervasive. Ironically, despite Elizabeth’s immensely successful film career, all of her eight marriages had calamitous endings!!!

Instances of world-famous political leaders, sportsmen, and film personalities becoming devotees of the Roman God, Cupid, or succumbing to committing ‘Freudian slips or lapses’, are innumerable. The mid-sixties saw the emergence of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, a handsome cricketer in the Indian cricket scene, who became a darling of the Indian cricket followers with his aggressive style of batting and acrobatic fielding. 

While Pataudi was holding the reins of Indian cricket, Sharmilla Tagore, the actress migrating from Tollywood to the Bollywood world, became popular for her admirable acting capability and attractive look. In the year 1965, the Valentine in Pataudi was bowled by the mesmerising attraction of Sharmilla Tagore. A courtship is a tumultuous love affair followed by a wedding. Both remained steadfast to each other till death snatched Pataudi away. 

The Valentine in Bill Clinton, the then American president, overcoming the lure of the most powerful political executive and getting involved in a scandal with Monika Lewinsky created an earth-shattering controversy that rocked the world, leading to his impeachment in 1997. The story about a governor getting involved in a sex scandal exposed in a sting operation is fresh in mind. Endless instances can be cited about Indian political Valentines.

The 22-year-old Saira Banu, the heartthrob of cinegoers, fell in love with Dilip Kumar, who was double her age, and “they lived happily thereafter.” The valentine in Flamboyant Aamir Khan, nevertheless, keeps haunting him, who has deserted two wives so far. There are stories galore about many other Bollywood Valentines.

Vindicating the immortal saying that ‘love defies all boundaries and national hostilities, Indian tennis heartthrob and charismatic Sania Mirza had fallen in love with former Pakistani cricket captain, Shoaib Malik. Another cross-border love affair in the 1980s between Mohsin Khan, a Pakistani cricketer, and Reena Roy, a Bollywood heroine, was well known. Both cross-border affairs had, however, crash-landed disastrously. 

The 1994 US Open saw an unseeded player with his dress code—sported black shorts with a black cap—and then caused an upset to clinch the U.S. final. Tennis buffs will easily identify this player as none other than André Agassi. The Valentine in Agassi was won over by charismatic tennis star Steffi Graf in 1999 during the ‘French Open’ championship. The debonair Agassi proposed to Steffi Graff, and both have been maintaining excellent relations so far.

Interestingly, Communist China, which had closed all ties with the rest of the world in 1949 and restored relations in 1978, celebrates Valentine’s Day as many as six times a year. However, with the growing popularity of the internet, February 14th is now celebrated with euphoria by the young Chinese generation.

Agonisingly, amidst the globalised celebration of ‘V-Day’, the Islamabad High Court in Pakistan, by its landmark verdict on February 6th, 2018, banned its observance across Pakistan for being ‘un-Islamic’ and banned its promotion on social media!!!  

Although the celebration of Valentine’s Day is a comparatively new phenomenon in the Indian context, Indian romanticism dates back to the days of the emperor Shahjahan, the great Mughal Emperor, and the most fantastic gift of love in the annals of mankind is the Tajmahal. 

Love as a passion has remained inextricably linked with the human psyche since the dawn of civilisation... Even Adolf Hitler’, arguably one of the most hated men in contemporary history, could not escape from this emotion and had a tumultuous love affair with Eva Braun.