'Tomorrow is daughter's day!' announced the radio brightly. The dulcet tones continued, 'A daughter is a gift of life, celebrate her..buy her a memorable gift at zing mall this evening with our gift coupons..'. The tone indicated that if you were the kind of insensitive whatnot who (incredibly!) had not yet celebrated your daughter, then atleast have the grace to shamefacedly slink to the mall now...you may still be able to prove your love.
In school, I remember feeling v ashamed that I didnt know about 'Mother's day'. An older girl expressed much horror at this ignorance, 'You don't know?! I got my mum a coupon on MG road' she said, with a suitably superior air. Although duly crushed by this 9th std scorn, I remember asking what a 'coupon' was. A friendly classmate enlightened me: 'you can buy whatever you want with a coupon'- it seemed the ideal gift! To someone who could only remember making gifts until then, this coupon seemed an all new sophisticated idea,leaving far behind the poor smudged calendars, inky cards and gummy bookmarks. Much the idea, in fact, that radio jockeys and advertisements strive to convey. And an idea, apparently, that sells, and certainly not just to middle school students! Clearly there is money in this packaging of 'days'. With causes, I can see that some good may come of it, but who benefits from these 'people days', other than the commercial interests behind them? Certainly,we ve all heard people say 'These days are made only for those who dont appreciate their mothers/fathers/friends through the rest of the year, and are obliged to make a show of it on one day and feel better'. I dont know if this is always true, I m sure you can be appreciative both ways if you wanted to- and I for one am a celebrator of say, friendship's day and teacher's day :) but there's no doubt the category of 'special days' is swelling by the day.
I recently heard of a 'Brother-in-law' day, this seemed the most specific category so far :) Of course fathers day, grandparents day, even cousins day, all are constantly celebrated by Archies stores, where its quite a task these days to find the old simple 'happy birthday' or 'get well soon' cards anymore. I mentioned this to a friend's mother recently. She thought for a bit and said, 'I want to start a nothing day'. I thought it was a great idea :) A nothing day. With NO affiliation, no expectation of a gift, no guilt at having forgotten, no buying expensive gifts to make up for something or the other..just a simple normal day. I want to start this..assuming there's still room in the calendar!
