It wont have escaped many people that yesterday was my half birthday! The other occasion that is celebrated is of course Valentines Day, although in India couples showing affection in public run the risk of being attacked.
In recent months there have been attacks by Sri Ram Sena (a right wing hindu group) or the “Hindu face of Taleban” as they have been described. The most high profile being a group of 30 men attacking women in a bar in Mangalore.
To counter this, a facebook group was created called ” The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women” which has of 42,000 members. They urged members to send pink underwear to the Sri Ram Sena. Genius.
But despite this, there were attacks on couples yesterday, by these self styled ‘moral police’. In one instance, a man was forced to marry a donkey as an act of humiliating punishment for being seen in public with a woman.
Still, there were instances of couples being forced into marriage or tie ‘rakhis.’ In Ujjain, a brother-sister duo was not spared as some miscreants – claiming to be of the Bajrang Dal – mistook them to be a couple and beat up the boy.
So happy Valentines everyone, hope you had a good one.