LOVE for sale?

Basically, everyone is aware of the Valentine's Day fuss, right? I was planning my first Valentine's Day since the last two and a half weeks. I am still very much confused about the things I want to do. To understand how it is gonna go down for me, you need to know what's going on. Well, nothing good is doing on. We had a major transgression two days ago and things are rockier than usual. I was planning for this day from so long, and I was hoping it would be perfect. But, I have my driving test the next morning, which already restricted my plans in many senses. Since, the test is early in the morning, I would be skipping my Statistics class (February 15). Second, we cannot celebrate with drinks because I cannot go for my test in intoxication, duh? Third, I have classes till 3:00 pm that day (February 14). They could be skipped but then he has work too. I don't know why he has to take on the role of Father Teresa to work extra hours for his friends who want to spend their first Valentine's Day with their wives. He's covering up for them. That pretty much kills anything that I had planned.

Now, that we know what is going on, you must know what I think about Valentine's Day. It is definitely my first, to celebrate. When I was searching for ideas and events in Toronto, I came across the biggest anti-Valentine's Day party. And I gotta say, I agree with them for the most part. This day was originally made to celebrate the fact that love is pure and commendable. And it just gave us one extra day to celebrate love. But now, V-Day has become another money hungry holiday, just like Christmas. It has become about giving and receiving stuff, not celebrating love. Whatever I had planned, had nothing to do with ridiculously expensive presents or a fancy dinner. It was about a getaway, from our routines, from other people, an escape to a place where we can celebrate our love. We can celebrate it with eating burritos for all I care. But the commercialization of Valentine's Day has just sky-rocketed. How do I know this? I checked about 30-35 websites yesterday for hand-made crafts and gifts and flowers. Heard of a bouquet worth $175? Heard of simple gift baskets worth $80? It is nothing more than an occasion to exchange gifts for millions of people. I don't have a problem with this. I am planning to gift him 14 things myself, but more than half of them are personalized gifts that I created myself. It has a sentimental value. It is for the purpose of celebrating our love, and cherishing what we have.

I am not against this holiday. Neither am I saying that we should not exchange gifts. I think it's exciting to receive flowers, and chocolates and little teddy bears and stuff. It is not so exciting when prices for jewellery sky rocket these days. I cannot tell you how many advertisements I have seen for furniture and mattresses to make promotions for this day. The amount of retail stores that are selling KISS boxers and lingerie for crazy amounts, when they are really just worth the regular price. It is not exciting to know that people EXPECT expensive presents. For me, I am the happiest girl with red roses, a card and a traditional box of chocolates. That's it. Not even that, I can just wear red or pink, doll up, and celebrate the entire day with him in privacy and be happy with it. What's the need of selling the bloody day like it's some superficial holiday?

I cannot help but wonder, is this what Valentine's Day has become? Like a bunch of sheep following a shepherd, people are lined up at the mall to buy tonnes of things. What is romantic about it? There is no originality in buying the same thing for everyone. I think we all have forgotten the gesture of making handicrafts, and personalizing presents to make our partners feel special. I feel there is no "surprise factor" when everyone is buying the same thing. Where is your own originality in all of this?

I very much believe in love, and have been a hopeless romantic. But, I do not believe in the modification this tradition has experienced over the years. There is so much hype around the commercialization. This one day, cannot fix a relationship gone bad, neither can it solve your problems. If buying a $5,000 ring for your girlfriend convinces her to forgive you, if you cheated on her, then I would suppose buying another necklace would get you another quickie with someone else. So, what I am saying is.. if you feel that you are under intense pressure to buy something ridiculously expensive, think again. It can mean two things. One, that you have done nothing romantic for your partner for 364 days of the year, and you think this one day can justify it all. Second, your partner is EXPECTING something of this sort, giving into the marketing gimmicks and stuff in the market.

I don't think the "value" of someone's presents (value in $ of course) should be used to test someone's love. I don't think the price for a present has to do with the amount of love they have for you. I know most of you might be disappointed by this blog post, because I am not supporting the opinions of many, but this is how I truly feel. As I wrote in an earlier blog, anyone can go buy anything at the mall. You just gotta have money in your wallet for that. It's a few people who express love in unique ways, and truly celebrate their romance. The commercialization of this day has made most of it very unromantic.

I wish I could tell you guys what I am doing for Valentine's Day, because most of it is HAND-MADE and personalized :) but I am afraid he will be reading and my surprise will go down the drain. But I hope this blog sheds a light on those who feel pressured to empty their pockets to impress their love. If you wanna impress him/her, do something that no one else is doing, do something that is gonna be a surprise for your love. Do something that he/she will remember for the rest of his/her life. Cheers!