“It feels bad to be single, you know,” Siddharthan K.A. says with a sigh, as a group of students burst into laughter. A third year student of Electronics Engineering (EE) he talks about the “pressure of not being nominated”.
Before I could make out what he was talking about, Aloke Kumar, a fourth year student of Mechanical Engineering (ME), explains: “You know, we have our annual Valentine’s Day online poll on our Facebook page. We nominate couples in various categories and those who get maximum ‘likes’ walk away with prizes. The final year ME students has been conducting this for the last so many years.”
And the nominations are in the categories for ‘Best couple’, ‘Best mismatched couple’, ‘Best new generation couple’, ‘Best one side love’ and so on.
Romance is the flavour of the season and Government Engineering College, Barton Hill (GECBH) is all keyed to celebrate February 14, Valentine’s Day. Even as protests against V-Day gather on the horizon, the students I met at GECBH care little for the moral policing and can’t wait to have fun on February 14.
Exchanging love letters, gifting flowers, chocolates, and gifts, eating out, sneaking out for a movie… plans are umpteen. They even have a box on the campus to drop love letter(s)!
So, do you need a day to declare that you love someone? “Why not? What is wrong with it? And we are not forcing anybody to celebrate it,” say Gokul S. and Rakesh Nath P., both third year students of Electronics Engineering (EE). “In fact, for some it is that special day when they finally gather the courage to confess their love, irrespective of the result!” Gokul says. Sreeram T. ., a third year student of EE, has the group in splits when he declares, “I think February 14 should be declared a public holiday, or at least a restricted holiday.”
Just as the debate appears to be getting a little one-sided, especially with the boys rallying behind the whole idea, Aparna M., a third year student of Civil Engineering (CE), chooses to differ. Especially when Sreeram started sharing his gyaan on the origin of the celebration, the one about Saint Valentine of Rome who was imprisoned for helping soldiers to get married.
“But how many of you know this story of St Valentine?” wonders Aparna. Not many, it seems, from the looks on their faces. She adds: “I strongly believe that it has become an occasion for business promotion by big brands. There are special offers on anything and everything. Love becomes a commodity. In fact, now there is a deluge of special days in a year and companies are cashing in on each of them,” she says. Anjali Mohan M., another student of the batch, chips in: “If there is true love between two people, do they need a separate day to express their love for each other?”
The two found supporters in Sarath M. S., a second year student of CE, Harikrishnan G. P., third year, CE, and Niranjan U.V., second year, ME, who felt that things do go out of hand at times.
“We have become too materialistic about relationships, with love being measured in terms of the kind of gifts you give,” Niranjan says.
However, even as they start dissecting various aspects of observing the day, at one point they all finally had to agree: campus life would surely be dull without such happy moments. If everyday is just the same, what is the fun in it?
“True love triumphs, but the fact is that many youngsters who profess to be in love with each other aren’t very serious about it. As for our online polls, it is all taken in the right spirit and there aren’t any ill-feelings about it,” says Aloke.
Even then Aswathy S., a final year student of Electrical Engineering, had a word of advice: “When we celebrate certain special days, they remind us about certain things. But does love need such a reminder?”
Well, point noted.
(A monthly column on views from the campus)
