Valentine's Day - the 'Indian Reaction'

Submitted by O.K. Sudesh (Kuwait), Feb 17, 2004 at 13:45

Dear Dr. Daniel Pipes,

I have a side-view as regard to the ‘Indian' reaction to Valentine's Day. What you have mentioned was true, though, I am afraid you left out the commercial aspect of ‘Shiv Sena's' vandalism in this scenario. Shiv Sena is a parochial rightist organisation. What they defend as Hinduism is mainly an over-statement from the power struggle they are forced into mainly in the city of Mumbai. It is the power struggle between the native Maharashtreans vs the smart, educated migratory population from other Indian states. It can be, on a softer scale, compared to some US states' reaction to the ‘job-outsourcing' phenomena.

But after all Mumbai thrives on business and Shiv Sena is deep into its business clutch, of course the gaining class. So when with their right hand they ‘cerimoniously burn' the Valentine cards in a ‘bonfire', with their left, they let its sales flourish in multiples at the shops' backdoors. (Well, they are also educated in Freud's terms.) If you look for Valentine's Cards in Mumbai, the bests out of it will be available in the same area you are looking for -- provided you need a local search engine. No govt. decrees are there in India, denying a Valetine's Day celebration or any sort of it, because we (the Hindus) have the supremes or worsts of its kind. But, only negative advertisements to promote a positive turn out by a clever and ruthless mini-crowd.

Middle class can be easily cajoled, elbowed into buying anything that is made to feel like rare, minimally-supplied, banned. It's the fatal attraction sometimes hinted by Freud-al psyche. Every where in the world, the newly burgeoning middle class is primed for any quick gain on ‘dhantha' (what they call in Mumbai for quick business gains).

Well, I do not know what is it in Iran or Saudi Arabia. But I am sure somebody is gaining from backdoor sales, and immensely. What I want to stress is that a particular class/classes in these nations have foreseen a bumpcrop, playing out Huntington's ‘cultural wars' in its postmodern shameless extremes; and well before Huntington himself.

Don't be preyed yourself into this game, foolhardly.

I read your posts regularly, and I am very much in line with your world view, even without those posts. But I may fall in wane, if you fail with the sort of common-placed-ness in your approaches.

with regards

O.K. Sudesh

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".