Yes! Here we are again.
This year we got valentines (little sticker thingy's) from both Jr. and the little one. Tons of them. They got a bunch of artwork gifts for each other and for us.
Was in two minds on what to do on Valentine's eve?! The sore throat which left me speechless yesterday finally relented after some powerful antibiotics, cough syrups, non stop Halls and Ricola treatments, not to mention the frequent nocturnal salt water garglings which reverberated through most of Cupertino and the Los Altos Hills.
The original plan was to launch my own Pink Chaddi Campaign by buying San a pair of nice pink Chaddis. Worried that this might spark a Pink Chappal campaign from her, decided against this idea.
Instead the plan is now changed to catching up on work, some light blog reading, blog posting and going to bed early.
If these folks knew about the Pink Chaddi Campaign, they would have made a killing in India. Seriously their stock would have gone through the roof! Looks like they missed the boat. Well, there will always be some Sene or other and some campaign or other that sends Chaddis, aranaikayars, goli soda, thundu beedis, etc. to the Sene's who will promptly open Chaddi, aranaikayar, goli soda, thundu beedi shops and resell the merchandise and make a healthy profit.
If Vaitheeswaran Koil recycles Uppu Milagu(Salt and pepper) packets offered to the god Karthikeya and the Bom Jesus Basilica recycles my candles offered to Jesus, almost sure that the Sene folks in Bangalore will recycle the Pink Chaddis offered to them!
All said and done, one does not need a special day to show ones love to the near and dear ones. To prove that point, we did the usual round of after dinner arguing today!
Mathematically, all this is explained clearly in the Sundar Valentine equation which shows :
Ergo, the love in our family is a constant, at least when measured in and around this time of the year.
Tensions run high at work, home and everywhere in between!
Sometimes I wish American festivals are as simple as the desi ones, where I could come home, take a shower, wear my silk dhoti, sit down while the kids and San watch me.. do something along the lines of
Aachamanam...Achutaya namaha..
Om Boohu, Om Buvaha, Om....
Mamo partha samastha durida kshya dwara sri parameshwata preethyartham .. shube shobane.. svetavaraha kalpe .. Valentines day pink heart poojam karishye!
offer a few flowers, candy, hershey's kisses, pink paper hearts etc. to the photos or idols of cupid, Guy Fawkes, romance novels etc., do an aarati, ogle at madisaar wearing wife and get on with life!
Wouldn't that be nice?!
Just like we go to the local Hindu temple and make our offerings of food, incenseand prayers to the gods on Indian festivals, we will go to the local Temple of capitalists aka Great Mall and offer things to the local godess aka Wife as part of Valentine's festivities and get blessed.
For those of you just celebrating love, a heartfelt happy Valentine's day!
ps. On a purely tangential note, we hope that the purchase of all those candy, hearts, ballons, pajamas, chadddis, flowers, etc. will revive the economy and the market will get its heart pumping again!
pps. Valentine's day may not be a necessity in India, but with the mechanical lifestyle here, it is not a bad idea to devote a day to make people stop, take note and say "I love you!" to those you care about!
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Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 9:46PM 
