{"id":7109,"date":"2016-04-12T10:35:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T05:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7109"},"modified":"2016-04-12T10:35:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T05:05:52","slug":"love-all-why-we-need-valentines-day-now-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7109","title":{"rendered":"Love All: Why We Need Valentine\u2019s Day Now More than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\nA<\/span>s an adolescent I\u2019d hate on everything \u201cnormal\u201d, I naturally swore to look down upon Valentine\u2019s Day. I questioned its legitimacy. Hypocritically, I celebrated all other arbitrary \u201cgreeting card\u201d events like Mother\u2019s Day, Father\u2019s Day, even Friendship Day<\/a> for that matter. But for me, there was a reason why Valentine and Vendetta both began with V.\n\nBorn in a typical Indian household, \u201clove\u201d was not a word that sat comfortably on our tongues. Our love language<\/a> was always acts of service as opposed to grand and eloquent declarations. There was no \u201cI love you<\/a>\u201d but a plate of cut fruits while I studied. Cheesy Bollywood films were also occasional guests; unspoken rules dictated that we must never let their flamboyance impress upon us. Romance novels were read only in secret. If the covers flaunted the world \u201clove\u201d or any allusions to it, they only saw the light of day in the bathroom. When you grow up constantly hiding an emotion so universal and ubiquitous, just how exactly are you supposed to accept the celebration of a day dedicated exclusively to it?\n\nIn my teenage days, when everyone was high on hormones and weed<\/a>, I categorically chose neither. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I loved the people around me but the extent of this love stretched only to whispers, accidental confessions, and sometimes special occasions. What my friends mistook for stoicism was only my inability to say it out loud. As a person who was always quite self-reliant (atma-nirbhar may be a new fad for Mr Modi but not for me), I could not imagine someone who would \u2013 in the words of Hozier \u2013 give me toothaches just from kissing me.\n\nSince I considered the concept of love and loving so foreign from my person, it did not take long for me to get christened \u201cone of the boys\u201d. An honorific that I accepted while simultaneously straddling my feminine self. To be \u201cone of the boys<\/a>\u201d as a teenager meant \u201cbeing cool and edgy\u201d \u2013 wearing sneakers and T-shirts and stifling my feelings. It also meant thwarting all things remotely feminine. While I tactfully shunned their other distastes for the \u201cdelicate darlings\u201d, one thing that I agreed upon with them was the cringe-inducing celebration of love in the form of Valentine\u2019s Day. We collectively poked fun at teddy bears, sneered at Archies\u2019 Gallery cards, and rejected the culture of coronations and bouquets. These were all things that came easily to me for I was inoculated against verbose declarations from the time I was little.\n\nBut growing up is a wonderful thing. When I started college at 18, I was introduced to a world that was alien from my past life. I found myself surrounded by friends whose affections were unbounded, who bought flowers for me without any occasion, and sent me \u201cI love you\u201d texts casually. All lovers around me found their own ways of celebrating their relationships, some starkly different from those I had condescended upon.\n\n

Every day we wake up to a world so tumultuous and traumatic that it gets taxing to find happiness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nEventually, I had experiences of my own. I had boyfriends who fell in love quickly and unabashedly, men whose feelings I never tried justifying with those of my own. College romance<\/a> stayed alive all year round but come February, all those emotions elevated.\n\nEvery seemingly inane day like Chocolate Day and Promise Day that led up to D-day was a cause of cheer and celebration. In spite of their being corny and unnecessary, these days were instrumental in the journey before the destination. While Valentine\u2019s Day may be a commercial celebration, I noticed that it did not have to be celebrated commercially. And even if someone enjoyed all the mush and the gimmicks of this day of love, who was I to discredit their happiness? Or diss it?\n\nI did not have to declare love in the same fashion as everyone did. I did not have to embody Shah Rukh Khan<\/a> with open arms in bright yellow mustard fields. I could just celebrate love in my own manner without indulging in the frills that others did. I looked around and no one else seemed to mind being \u201cuncool\u201d so why did I?\n\nI\u2019m 24 now and I\u2019ve spent the last few Valentine\u2019s Days figuring my own expressions of love while keeping my edge intact \u2013 I have burnt playlists on CDs, handwritten letters, and poems steeped in nauseating metaphors, baked heart-shaped cakes. My boyfriend buys me books instead of roses, sends me drum grooves instead of Elvis Presley songs, and we go cycling instead of dinner dates; we celebrate love in ways that feel like love to us.\n\nThis transition has taught me that there is not just one way to love in the public domain, and no one makes the rules. There is enough misery around; every day we wake up to a world so tumultuous and traumatic that it gets taxing to find happiness. If all it takes to be temporarily distracted from our misfortunes and the impending doom is this one \u201cgreeting card\u201d event then it\u2019s truly no love lost.\n\nMy existentialist dread can wait for February 15.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s not just one way to love in the public domain, and no one makes the rules. There is enough misery around; everyday we wake up to a world so tumultuous that it gets taxing to find happiness. If all it takes to be temporarily distracted from our impending doom is this one \u201cgreeting card\u201d event then it\u2019s truly no love lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":422,"featured_media":7110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-love-and-sex"],"yoast_head":"\nLove All: Why We Need Valentine\u2019s Day Now More than Ever<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s not just one way to love in the public domain, and no one makes the rules. 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If all it takes to be temporarily distracted from our impending doom is this one \u201cgreeting card\u201d event then it\u2019s truly no love lost.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-12T05:05:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1613192645-1024x573.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sahej Marwah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Love All: Why We Need Valentine\u2019s Day Now More than Ever\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"There\u2019s not just one way to love in the public domain, and no one makes the rules. 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If all it takes to be temporarily distracted from our impending doom is this one \u201cgreeting card\u201d event then it\u2019s truly no love lost.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sahej Marwah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sahej Marwah\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/56ae4a5cb0b7854a4bde189624167f57\"},\"headline\":\"Love All: Why We Need Valentine\u2019s Day Now More than Ever\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-12T05:05:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109\"},\"wordCount\":882,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1613192645.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Love and Sex\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109\",\"name\":\"Love All: Why We Need Valentine\u2019s Day Now More than Ever\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=7109#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1613192645.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-12T05:05:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/56ae4a5cb0b7854a4bde189624167f57\"},\"description\":\"There\u2019s not just one way to love in the public domain, and no one makes the rules. 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