February 14: Happy Kalpana Divas!
I found this Valentine's letter from Pag Anboy to his beloved.
~*~ ~*~
Be My Valentine by Pag Anboy
My Dear Sweet Love,
I say to thee “Be My Valentine” but thou knowest not how I choke upon it for love.
But a pagan am I, and love cometh easy to me. My pagan ancestors celebrated this day, our day of dance and celebration and spring, before the loving Church came and showed us ours sinful ways. Their god was a loving god, and he would roast us in his loving hell – the Church could only help. But try as it might, for it was a mighty Church, we poor pagans would scarcely leave love. So the Church did the next best thing, when you can't kill them all, join them – and they did join a poor Churchian Saint with a bad Churchian myth to create Valentine's day, all the better to progress the empire. Let us celebrate then with good English postcards.
But I digress. Wouldst thou allow me, my dear, to whisper sweet nothings into thine ear? What, nothings do not thine appetite fill? How about then, this box of Chocolates, the best Swiss ones? Ah! I see I tempt you. And tempted were the Churchians too, by this chocolate, not their own invention of course, but begotten from the savage Indians of the Americas – now all wrapped up for you in this pretty package, nicely civilized. Ah, the civilizing Churchians, what burdens they must have borne to rid us of our sins. And how much work, with their loving ways of course, must they have done to dispatch our savage ancestors for these sinful temptations, to a quick meeting with their pagan fathers, all roasting in hell. One million? Five? Ten? One hundred million!? Ah, but who is counting, some heathens less or more, some Indians less or more, as long as the good Churchian blood is not spilled in vain, for the Churchian way is the way of love. (and the only way, mind you, remind you). Why, thou believest me not? Why woudst thou? For history, they say, is written by the victorious.
Come live with me and buy my love. Let me then give thee mine heart, mine only heart, surely more precious than a mere rib. Thou art blossoming in thy woman hood, and the Church is terribly partial to women. Bear I, to repeat the Church's esteem? Oh! How its praise poureth over in the words of the Church Fathers. The great theologian Tertullian spelleth it out:
“And do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil's gateway”
Saint Clement of Alexandria maketh it clear:
“Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman."
Hush, hush, I say. I seek to fill thee too, but not with shame. The great new Churchian Martin Luther, thus spake a reformation:
“Even though they grow weary and wear themselves out with child-bearing, it does not matter; let them go on bearing children till they die, that is what they are there for."
Oh dear, though turneth pale! Dost not now the tradition of Saint Valentine fill thee with glee? Let me not scare thee away from thine sweet dreams. Ah, yes! We are the converted pagans, let us be innocent in our sleep, why talk of bygones when we have now been given the new, improved and Hallmark affirmed Saint Valentine (or two), all the better to pay for it. Canst thee share this letter with all thine friends then and spread the Good News?
I am to say to thee “Be My Valentine” but I know not why my knees be weak. Must I invoke the name of Valentine to profess my love to thee? Some distant nightmares of blood, murder and ravishment still my heart and my pen.
Canst I not speak my love for thee every day?
Your one and only,
Pag Anboy.
Pag Anboy writes emotionally, but speaks truly. In India there have been two views on Valentines Day, the “in” crowd that is happy to copy whatever the West packages up and the clue-less danda-wallas going about and burning greeting cards.
It is time for the pagans to get smarter. To celebrate love is indeed great, this has always been our birthright before Victorian morality weaved sexuality as sin into our thoughts. As romantic relationships become prevalent “Valentines Day” gives a great excuses to express these. But Valentine is hardly a celebration of love – only of cultural subjugation. So how about we create a new festival that, just co-incidentally, falls on Feb. 14 as well – we can at least learn something from the pagan conquest. So let's celebrate Feb. 14 as Kalpana Divas and find something to truly celebrate – of soaring to new heights, of imagination, of love. Instead of misogyny let us celebrate the life of a girl from small-town Karnal who spread her wings and flew. And an image that can inspire every child in India.
The government should officially designate Feb 14 as Kalpana Divas. School children can use their kalpana, to write, draw and create their dreams and imaginings, their plans and ideas. Adults too can join and take up that hobby they had always dreamt of, plan the life they had always wanted in their hearts, take the chance, take the risk of forging a new path.
And lovers? Arre, use your kalpana! Archies can print out a new batch of cards with a signature tune for the teenie boppers:
“Keh do na. Keh do na. You are my kal-pa-na.”
Can women send these cards to their lovers just as well as men can? Sure. After all, if men and women can today can say “Be my (Saint?!) Valentine” and get used to it, “You are my Kalpana” sounds a heck of a lot more meaningful.:)
You are the star of my eyes
The stuff of my dreams
The stirrings of my imagination
You are my Kalpana.
There – just the right stuff for an Archies card. Coming up with better ditties is left as an exercise for the readers.
But Kalpana is not only restricted to love, of course. Kalpana can inspire us to find and live our dreams and stretch for the skies. Kalpana Divas opens up to far more creative possibilities than a mere Valentine's day. So here are a few exercises:
1. Take some index cards and start to write down everything that you wish to do in life before you die. One item per index card. Consider five areas of your life –Personal/Family, Career, Social, Cultural and Spiritual. Label each of the items you have written with one or more of these categories. Spend some more time thinking of items that have none. Later on you can sort and arrange cards, put years and dates on them – in other words plan out everything you want to do. Use your kalpana!
2. Imagine you have just been told that you only have 1 year to live. How would you spend your time?
3. Imagine that you have just died. You are hovering over your body and watching all the people who are there. Who is around you? What are they saying? A few days later an obituary appears in the newspaper. What would you like your obituary to say? Write it out.
Contemplating death can be a focusing point of reflection for life. Kalpana's jeevan and mrityu both combine in the story of Kalpana Divas to give it meaning.
So go ahead. Try it this February 14 on Kalpana Divas!
Notes:
1. There are a number of different versions of how a likely pagan festival got turned into “Saint Valentine's” day.
Here's one: A history of Valentines Day
2) The holocaust in the Americas is well documented in several books. See: Churchill, Ward.
A Little Matter of Genocide Stannard, David.
American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World
3) For Church misogyny, see: Daly, Mary. The Church and the Second Sex.
For some web quotes, Church leaders on Women
Close
for a movie which discusses civilisation, urbanisation and pagan/tribal values, try Satyajit Ray's Agantuk.
there's a screenplay available as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agantuk
Reply | | Report Abuse
Hermoine,
The replacement of pagan festivals was not benign change. It was a way for the Church to erase native traditions and establish hegemony and control.
Why does one really need to celebrate this in India? Why adopt a Church-erased pagan festival in India at all. As far as genocide and misogyny goes, most people in India are woefully unaware of the history of the Church in this regard and these are not unrelated to the erasure of culture.
And, if as you say, things have to change with time -- why celebrate this fraudulent "Saint Valentine" in any case -- what do you think about chainging it to the Kalpana story?
Reply | | Report Abuse
Pretty poor attempt at satire. :-)
It is true though that the Church has replaced many Pagan festivals with "Christian" ones. Christmas on Dec. 25 is around Winter Solstice. Good Friday is around Vernal Equinox and so on...
I think you've subverted a valid point (that Christianity usurped Pagan traditions and repackaged it) by including stuff like genocide, chocolate etc to make it sound like an anti-Church tirade. Overkill has killed the main point.
Generally speaking though, there's really nothing terribly wrong with the "flavor" and "significance" of festivals changing over time. After all, we live in different times than the early Pagans did...we can't expect to indulge in Bacchanalian carnivals to celebrate V-day (although the Venetian carnival does still take place during this period) while our society itself has changed course to more individualized (and sadly, commercial) pursuit of love and life.
Reply | | Report Abuse
ArundhatiRoy/ManjariV ( just as usual) : " blah blah blah"
Get a job.
Reply | | Report Abuse
Sankrant states:
V-day is currently catching on because it serves that purpose. But whenever we incorporate a new festival it is worth being aware of what the history of the day is -- and certainly the "Saint Valentine" charade is hardly a good excuse for love, particularly when the original Church intent to name that day as such was probably to supress the original pagan celebration. (since the Church has been no great votary of sexuality or women for that matter).
Sankrant:
Diwali is being celebrated in India, with many not being aware of the context in which the holy day originated. It originated as the triumph of good over evil, and therefore, the advent of light and brightness. In the present context, Diwali is the major media and advertising hype among Indian festivals. People buy jewellery and expensive clothes, and are forced to spend extravagantly. If a couple is newly wed, the parents of the bride are forced to spend huge amounts of money towards the couple's 'first" diwali. My point is, even in our culture, festivals have lost their original intent, and societies have changed they way they celebrate a festival. Therefore, your cheap satire towards Valentine's day is akin to the pot calling the kettle black.
To Mehta Jihadi,
As a young man at the threshold of life, (you are still preparing for IIM, I guess), my advice to you is this:
Just by clearing IIM CAT, or having a few measly properties in an Indian city, along with a few blue chip stocks, is not going to make a man out of you. Being a complete man needs far more than wearing a Raymond's suit . If your comments are not related to the critique of the article, your comments do not have credibility.
Reply | | Report Abuse
To all,
This is a quick satirical piece. This is why it is posted as an article rather than my regular column.
The main point is that it is completely fine to find an excuse to send someone you like a card. V-day is currently catching on because it serves that purpose. But whenever we incorporate a new festival it is worth being aware of what the history of the day is -- and certainly the "Saint Valentine" charade is hardly a good excuse for love, particularly when the original Church intent to name that day as such was probably to supress the original pagan celebration. (since the Church has been no great votary of sexuality or women for that matter).
As far as Kalpana being over-hyped, I agree, but it is certainly a better story than Mr. Valentine. The hype may actually prove to be useful in this case. We have plenty of traditional love stories but none of them are likley to catch the fancy of the crowd that is trying to be "with it." If someone has better suggestions than Kalpana divas, do recommend.
Reply | | Report Abuse
Dear Sankrant,
I have enjoyed your earlier articles as well as your many comments to other articles. However, this article is not so convincing.
Few issues that I have with this article:
1. Any criticism of the Valentine's day would be more effective if based on the current practices. Is history of the "churchians" relevant with the current celebration of Valentine's day? Is it not similar to people trying to bring in Gujarat for anything that is said about India?
2. In my humble opinion, Kalpana Chawla has been way too hyped up and glorified. No doubt she was successful and is a good role model. But there are many ordinary people who are much more inspiring -- not just from the career perspective, but in day-to-day living. For e.g., A brave child fighting with a tiger to save a little one (another that rescued a little one from a burning hut), people taking care of elderly when they could have just walked off, people who sacrifice their careers and dedicate their lives to the well being of the needy, people who have silently improved the lots of entire villages by humble work, people who have planted saplings for miles along a road and tended to their growth, ... it's too much to list -- basically the unsung heros of everyday life.
3. Your prescription of index cards, living like there is no tommorrow, having goals to see how people react to your death, etc., are too western-management-training oriented. IMHO, One has to have a holistic view to life. Life is not about goals or doing what others will appreciate, but doing the right thing. Life is about realizing one's shortcomings and constantly striving to improve. Life is about living the right way, as per dharma. Hence I am not convinced about your prescription.
Best regards
Ram
Reply | | Report Abuse
Ah Maria,
Why bring Christ into it? I have too much respect for the teachings of JC that I could hardly write this as an "anti-Christian" piece, indeed the term is used nowhere. But the historical role of the institutions of the church and the resulting holocaust - I'm sure you're not denying these or justifying these. You'd probably agree they were distinctly "un-Christian." Why do we need to be involved with a day that is a reminder of this history of subjugation (and by most accounts, there is no historical "romance" associated with "Saint" Valentine other than the story that was spun up later) when we have plenty of inspirational stories of our own?
Reply | | Report Abuse
ArundhatiRoy/ManjariV : " Another, hate spewing ,senseless garbageful of nonsense from the pseudo intellect whose pompous airs put any indigestion imabalance to shame. "
The silly c*nt just described herself....Honesty. At last.
Reply | | Report Abuse
Oh Mr.Sanu,
Looks like somebody did not 'get any Valentine goodies'!!
Just curious..was this meant to be an 'anti-Christian, anti-Valentine,
anti-Romance, anti-'Churchian', 'anti-Chocolates'..'anti-Name-calling' (I'm sure I missed quite a few others) article?
Is it really that bad?..I'm sure you know that it still is a 'choice' and 'not the law' to have a 'little fun' on Val's day..inspite of the hype and commericalism..
Am not sure what the 'Church and it's treatment Women', has anything to do with 'Romance'?..
Anyway..belated Kalpana Divas to you too! (of course, there can't be
no choking up with love!)
Maria
Reply | | Report Abuse
- 1
- 2
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 Blog Comments