Valentines day!!
I am in a much sunnier mood today!! After all it is Valentine's Day..well Neeraj and I decided to rebel not making a big deal out of a day..after all if you are in love, any day should be a Valentine's day. And do we nee d a specific day to celebrate love? I guess not..So I decided to look up the significance of this day..how did it all start?

This is what i found on the historychannel website
the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

So well I am not sure if St. Valentine would have imagined the way it is celebrated now. :) Well the amount of money spent on gift is slowly calibrating the amount of love. I wonder if sending 100 dollars flowers is a way of showing how much you love. Actions usually speak louder than words, but in this case I think words speak a lot louder than actions. Being told genuinely that you are loved is probably more invaluable than flowers. Of course its again a very personal preference, if you cannot be with your loved one, then being thoughtful and sending something that is meaningful is probably a good idea. What I usually like to do when I give gifts is think more personally, usually if I have heard a person saying they want something, then I got and buy that.I like to put more thought in gifts than just the regular flowers, candies.

I remember a few years back when there was a huge protest against Valentine's day being celebrated in Maharashtra, my state in India. There were a couple of points in the protest.
1. Do we really need to embrace alien culture blindly just becase its shown on Cable Network and because it is the hep thing to do?
2. The point I made above, do we need a day to proclaim love?

Lets all keep the spirit of love alive..Love is pure, Love is innocent, Love is understanding......