Come Valentine's Day - the Social Media erupts with over proclamation of love, far wider with a farther reach than the eruption of Mouna Loa, the famous Hawaiian Volcano. Valentine Day flame slithers across continents, more than the simmering fire vomited by the Volcano.
Mouna Loa gets active sporadically, its lava meanders through the valleys, subsiding only after touching the surface water of the Pacific Ocean. But cometh every February 14th, the all pervading, overflowing lava of love on social media is never enough - it is bountiful and boundless, bubbling its way to gobble the surface of the alternate universe of Social Media.
Yet unlike Mouna Loa, the Valentine Volcano ain't so real. It reminds me of a popular saying during my Engineering College days, "MUCHHE WOHI RAKHTE HAIN JINKE APNI MARDANGI PAR SHAQ HOTI HAI" - The ones keep moustache, are the ones who have doubts about their manhood.
We share this common trait with our ancestors, our Simian Cousins. It's said that Monkeys with small testicles howl louder to cover their impotency. We humans often do the same, but sugar coat it with candies, cakes and ice creams. It is in human psychology to show off in public what we crave in private. Social media in general and Facebook in particular bears testimony. Valentine's Day best describes it.
Love is strongest when it's unreasonsble. But it can reasonably be said that love always comes with a reality check. This is best depicted in a scene from the epic movie ANKUSH (Barb) from the year 1986, which catapulted the actor Nana Patekar to fame. In the movie, a boy unemployed in spite of having a Civil Engineering degree, solicits love from a girl in his neighborhood by approaching her with a Rose.
She rudely rebuffs him, throwing away the flower sideways, "HUN, MAHINA 100 RUPAIAH KAMA NAHI SAKTA, CHALA AYA PYAAR KARNE KE LIYE" - "Huh, Can't even earn Rs.100 (Roughly $10 those days) a month, now comes to express his love". Few days away from my Engineering College admission, this scene was profound enough for me not to opt for Civil Branch of Engineering.
True, unconditional love might be an "Alternate fact" . But it's a fact that Americans truly love their pets as they're expected to spend $703 millions them on Valentine's Day. Hope that doesn't include they spend on another kind of pets, their husbands or boyfriends.
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