Valentine Stories

How much ever I try to underplay the importance of Valentines Day in the life of an average human being, I now know I will fail. This fact was proved once again this week, reminding me how ignorant I am of the ways of the world. The amount of e-mail exchange on this subject itself is good proof for that. Most of them were about the Do's and Don'ts for the day.. reminding that nine months down the line, on November 14th, is Children's Day. I know if I write something about V-day, it will be construed as whining or the sour-grapes syndrome; so I will not write about those without valentines.

When lot of people cry out loud for a Valentine, there are in fact people who suffer from the problem of plenty. And I never realized it as a much bigger problem than having no Valentine, till I spoke to a friend recently. Here is one man surrounded by multiple fans/followers/wannabes at office, pestering him to grab that priced spot of being his Valentine. Lovely..eh...? Not really, as he says, here you are at the risk of jeopardizing the delicate ecosystem at workplace.. a slight imbalance in the relationships can create havoc. That's a tricky business and everybody at office has the right to be treated equally. There is always this Opportunity cost of picking up one over the other. If you ignore the one who is a little closer to your boss, then be ready to get your happiness screwed through exaggerated recognition - complex projects, under-valuation during performance reviews, and what not. Above all, think about getting into a big trap like this for a day's benefit. That is like selling your soul to the devil. If Robert Johnson did that,it was in exchange for extraordinary guitar playing abilities..!!

That's about the perils of those who either don't have a valentine, or finding it difficult to choose one from the crowd. If you think life will be a smooth ride once this phase is over, think twice... the worst might be waiting round the corner, like a buddy of mine found out last year. Imagine this: By Goodness' grace he left office early, there wasn't much traffic on the road, even the traffic police man didn't notice when he jumped that signal. He stopped over at the florist's to grab a bunch of flowers, her gift was safe in his jacket pocket. He had a table reservation at one of the best places in town and it was just a matter of time before he enjoyed some quality time with her... everything was so great. And he finally picked her up and reached this restaurant, the place was all lit up to fit the mood, a live band playing some mushy songs.. Ooooh Laa la.. perfect setting..!!

There is this Greek word 'Catharsis', which when used in the 'Dramatics' context refers to a sudden emotional breakdown or climax, that brings about a twist in the story. This is when generally the heroine decides to get married to the rich but old guy leaving the hero heartbroken, or the hero falls for another girl ignoring the heroine.. and so on. It was Catharsis time in our story as well.

As soon as he walked into the restaurant, he recognized a familiar face in the crowd.. none other than the previous year's valentine. (valentine for 3 consecutive years, to be precise.) And before he realized, she was close to him, saying 'Hi handsome', but staring straight at our heroine, checking her out. Before he could come up with some excuse to get out of there, she had opened the Pandora's box, letting out all the filth.. stories of 'good old days'. So, to cut a long story short, a day which started so well, ended on a pretty bad note. How better it can be when you spend two hours answering questions like.. "So are you still in touch with her?", "Where did you go for last valentines day?", "what did you gift her?".. blah blah.. boom.. boom..!!

I do not want to make any conclusions out of these stories... everybody can make their own. Like somebody said, learning from own experience makes you wise.. but learning from others' can save you some embarrassment!