Valentines' Day

I hope the Ram Sena is not monitoring my blog ;)

As a ritual, I always crib on 14th February for not having the "right" company. But, with many a friend getting married off late.. I find fewer people sharing the same thoughts about this day!

So, will celebrate(sigh!) the day with a cheesy joke my friend pinged me today..

"
In spite of what you have been told by everyone, the truth is that Valentine's Day originated hundreds of years ago, in India, and to top it all, in the state of Gujarat !!!

It is a well known fact that Gujarati men, specially the Patels, continually mistreat and disrespect their wives (Patelianis). One fine day, it happened to be the 14th day of February, one brave Patelani, having had enough "torture" by her husband, finally chose to rebel by beating him up with a Velan (rolling pin to make chapattis). Yes....the same Velan which she used daily, to make chapattis for him.... only this time, instead of the dough, it was the husband who was flattened.

This was a momentous occasion for all Gujarati women and a revolt soon spread, like wild fire, with thousands of housewives beating up their husbands with the Velan. There was an outburst of moaning "chapatti-ed" husbands all over Anand and Amdavad.

The Patel men-folk quickly learnt their lesson and started to behave more respectfully with their Patelanis.

Thereafter, on 14th February every year, the womenfolk of Gujarat would beat up their husbands, to commemorate that eventful day - the wives having the satisfaction of beating up their husbands with the Velan and the men having the supreme joy of submitting to the will of the women they loved.

Soon The Gujju men realised that in order to avoid this ordeal they need to present gifts to their wives....they brought flowers and sweets. This is how the tradition - Velan time - began.

As Gujarat fell under the influence of Western culture, the ritual soon spread to Britain and many other Western countries, specifically, the catch words 'Velan time' !!! In course of time, their foreign tongues, this got anglisized to 'Velantime' and then to 'Valentine'.

And thereafter, 14th of February, came to be known as Valentine's Day and now you know the true story of Valentine's day.

"

Well.. if you don't find the joke funny enough.. don't blame me.. I warned you that I tend to crib!

B

Do you recognise me?

Honestly, I feel this blog will go dead if I don't write.. so am trying to come up with something! Anyway..

I was in Chennai for a family function last week. Now, I am very poor with faces and being out of the family social circuit for a long time now.. I hardly knew most of the people who attended. Even otherwise, I doubt I would know ;). Anyway, this time, I had quite a few people walking up to me and saying.. "Ennai teriyudha" and I'd go blank! Some faces looked familiar, but most of them were strangers to me :|. I'd go sheepish and reply.."Illai teriyalai". I don't think that looked a pretty answer, but I did not think anything but the truth would help in such cases. What if they asked me more questions!! Thereafter, I went looking for my Mom/Dad who could then introduce me to the said people. My Dad would say.. He is Kannu's son and I'll nod my head. On pressing who is Kannu, he'd give an unhelpful.. He is Labour Officer Kannu's son. I give up!! B gives a polite smile and moves on to the next group.. :|

Well, I don't know if I have always been this way or its something I have picked up in life. I surely know I was bad with faces in BITS, but don't remember before that :-/. My friends resorted to showing me photographs time and again to ensure I remembered a face. Maybe I should attempt that now.. Ghajini style :D.

B