Ah, here it is again, my favourite time of the year…the
month of February. I never knew that they have a thing called Valentine’s week
until last year with all these days…Chocolate day, Teddy day, Promise day, Hug
day and oh…there’s even a Kiss day!! Its Valentine’s day today; no doubt love is in
the air. Whatever they say, love will always be the HAPPENING thing. Perhaps this
is the reason why inspite of all these bans on celebrating Valentine’s Day and
a modest crowd going Anti-Valentine, there is a dearth of people who’s leaving
no stone unturned to convey their love.
I bet it’s the busiest
time of the year for florists. I have never really sent flowers to anyone. All
thanks to facebook, I learnt that there’s a Ferns and Petals store at Imphal
(my hometown) and I was super-excited. I guess I inherited my craze for flowers
from my Mom…she makes sure that our home has all these pretty flowers blooming
and she sure has green fingers. So, I called the Ferns and Petals number from
their website…oh it wasn’t working so I emailed them. They responded within
hours and called me back. I ordered a bunch of roses of different colours and
before I could tell for whom I was ordering, the guy at the other end of the line
interrupted sweetly. He said in his most sincere tone “Mam, I am sorry to tell you this but you see as you know, here in
Manipur, our society reacts a little differently when we go to deliver flowers
to girls….if you know what I mean…..the fathers and brothers have all these
questions…….” I stopped him immediately. “Oh, I am ordering flowers for my Mom, so its okay” I smiled and
told him. I could feel him exhale out of relief. He again apologized. I totally
understand his situation. I am sure the delivery guy must have had many
misadventures when he goes to deliver flowers. I can hardly think of my Dad’s
reactions if a cute guy comes with a bunch of flowers for me….he’d surely be
cornered…big time!! The florist went on to tell that a few days ago he
delivered flowers to a girl, ordered by his boyfriend from Bangalore to
surprise her. The girl was beaming so happily when she took the flowers that he
could not help but feel happier and contented. And this is what keeps him
moving…..to spread love, to make strangers happy, or perhaps just to make
someone feel special.
So to all my amazing readers, here’s what it is. Let us not
stop loving. Let us not stop hoping and moving on. What really matters is that
through all the embarrassments and guilt trips, through all the pain and
sleepless nights and broken hearts, you can still hope that love is sure more
closer to you than someone who has never loved anybody at all. Just for a
moment, let us shed our ego, our pride, our arrogance and be true to our
feelings. Let us bring a smile to someone who is less happy than us, someone
who need more love than we do. What we all need is a little bit more love.
Perhaps this will make Valentine’s Day even more meaningful.
Happy Valentine’s Day folks!!
