Gautam Ganguly (gautamganguly2012@gmail.com)
The pomp and splendour, the engulfing euphoria, craze, and passion witnessed of late at the celebration of Valentine’s Day on 14th February by vibrant enthusiasts obliterating all differences like caste and nationalities compelled me to run to ‘Google,’ the mother of all ‘search engines,’ to comprehend its connotation and significance. Among many mythological explanations about the origin of Valentine’s Day celebration, the most acceptable explanation is the one that states that during the days of the Roman kingdom, the Roman Emperor Claudius II was trying to bolster his army, and he forbade young men to marry. The Roman emperor believed that ‘single men made better soldiers.’ Valentine defied the ban and performed secret marriages glorifying the spirit of love, and he was executed on 14th February. Consequently, the fourteenth of February symbolises the magnificence of romance besides paying tribute to St. Valentine, the ‘beatific martyr’ who had sacrificed his life in honour of love.’.
The history of civilisation is replete with endless instances of celebrities from different walks of life being ardent devotees of the Roman god, Cupid. A cursory glance familiarises us with interesting anecdotes involving luminaries cutting across national boundaries who had hogged the limelight as much by their spectacular public performance as by their off-field romantic activities.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, two of the immortal Hollywood celebrities, had met on the sets of the Hollywood classic movie, ‘Cleopatra,’ heralding the beginning of one of the most publicised, captivating love stories of all time. However, while Burton remained loyal to his lady love, Elizabeth’s relentless quest for new ‘love partners’ was fierce and all-pervasive. Ironically, despite Elizabeth’s immensely successful film career, all of her eight marriages had calamitous endings.
Vindicating the immortal saying that ‘love defies all boundaries and national hostilities, Indian tennis heartthrob, charismatic Sania Mirza, had fallen in love with former Pakistani cricket captain, Shoaib Malik. Another cross-border love affair in the 1980s between Mohsin Khan, a Pakistani cricketer, and Reena Roy, a Bollywood heroine, had crash-landed. The separation, the heartbroken plight of Reena Roy’s ‘real-life’ tragedy in a way, synchronises and resembles her’ immensely popular song,
‘Sheesha ho ya dil ho
Aakhir toot jaata hai’.
Sania Mirza’s conjugal relationship has ended in smoke!
The 1994 US Open saw an unseeded player surprising all and sundry with his dress code—sporting black shorts with a black cap—and then caused an upset to clinch the U.S. final. Tennis buffs will easily identify this player to be none other than Andre Agassi. The Valentine Agassi was won over by the charismatic tennis star Steffi Graf in 1999 during the ‘French Open championship. The debonair Agassi proposed to Steffi Graf, who had always maintained a very dignified disposition both on and off the field. The formal nod came from Steffi in the year 2000, and the courtship culminated in marriage in Las Vegas in 2001. The romance between the two continues to date.
While Pataudi was holding the reins of Indian cricket and his charismatic personality was an object of admiration, especially by the members of the fair sex, Sharmila Tagore, the actress, migrating from Tollywood to the Bollywood world, was getting increasingly popular among the cine-goers not only due to her admirable acting capability and attractive look but also by her fashionable costumes and dress. In the year 1965, the Valentine in Pataudi was bowled over by the mesmerising attraction of Sharmila Tagore when they met for the first time at a party in New Delhi. A courtship and a tumultuous love affair followed thereafter. The love affair was finally translated into wedlock in 1969 between the two immensely popular towering personalities of the time, a relationship that lasted without any hitch or controversy till inevitable, cruel death snatched Pataudi away in 2012. The 42nd American president, Bill Clinton, became a valentine at the age of 46 and had a love affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Clinton was ultimately impeached on charges of adultery. Lovebird bugged even a US president.
Interestingly, Communist China, which had closed all ties with the rest of the world from 1949 and restored relations in 1978, celebrates Valentine’s Day as many as six times in a year. The most significant is the observance of the ‘Lantern Festival’ that is celebrated on July 7th. However, with the growing popularity of the internet, February 14th is now celebrated with euphoria by the young Chinese generation.
Agonisingly, amidst the globalised celebration of ‘V-Day,’ the Islamabad High Court in Pakistan, by its landmark verdict on February 6th, 2018, had banned its observance across Pakistan for being’ ‘un-Islamic’ and banned its promotion on social media!!!
Although the celebration of Valentine’s Day is a comparatively new phenomenon in the Indian context. However, Indian romanticism dates back to the days of the emperor Shah Jahan, the great Mughal emperor. The most fantastic gift of love in the annals of mankind is the Taj Mahal. Love as a passion has remained inextricably linked with the human psyche since the dawn of civilisation. Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, two of our epics, throw illuminating lights on this eternal human passion. Even Adolf Hitler’, arguably one of the most hated men in contemporary history with his known misanthropic attitude, could not escape from this emotion and had a tumultuous love affair with Eva Braun.