Day of date n hate today

SALEM/COIMBATORE: Lovers would never have it so good as this Valentine’s Day. Their feelings have got sound backing from at least two organisations here this time around.The Periyar Dravida Kazhagam has stuck posters hailing Valentine’s Day as a day to promote inter-caste marriages. Meanwhile, the Indian Inter-caste Married Couples’ Association, through a poster campaign, has invited inter-caste couple for an experience-sharing meeting in Dharmapuri on V-Day.But there are anti-Valentine’s Day voices as usual. The Left parties and the Sangh Parivar outfits have come out in the open against the day.  Protests against “public admission of love, which is alien to Indian culture”, have been organised by the Left and the Right wing groups in Salem.Dasarathan, Coimbatore district president of Hindu Munnani, rubbishes the day as a ‘western influence.’ “We are not against love, but against the obscene proclamation of it. They behave differently in public places and places of sanctity like temples. They completely relinquish our culture by such behaviour,” he fumes.However, school counsellor and psychologist Anandhi Ramaswamy contradicts this notion and says, “We have become mechanised and it is important to realise that we have to take time out for ourselves and our better half. A day dedicated to that, be it the east or the west does not matter.”