The Hindu Business Line : Love in India

More poems and songs have probably been created on love than even on God. The divine madness that love creates and sometimes even sustains is the stuff that legend and lore is made up of. As someone said, it is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all. The excitement of love gives rise to a sensation that a wild symphony is being orchestrated by a maddened little cherub called Cupid and the people who are in love have no option but to surrender and be held willing captive to the magic of the moment. Did we say moment?

Yes, alas, except for a few Romeos, Juliets, Heers, Ranjhas and their contemporary equivalents, the vast majority of those who have experienced the heady feeling of being in love, succumb to the mundane. Work pressures, children, families, the unremitting swell of motion from the ceaseless ocean of activity we so simply call life.

And for these tormented souls who wish to cling on to, and express the notion of eternal love but seem to have trouble focusing on it all year around, there is a modern panacea, specially created, polished and presented by today's marketer's in sparkling shades of pink and red ... Valentine's Day.

Forget about how it all started. Who cares about whether Valentine's Day is ascribed to a saint or a sinner? It has been taken over by the marketing community. This year saw further refinement of the art and craft of making you gift. There were the obvious advertisements for jewellery and perfumes and chocolates, lots of chocolates (made me wonder why the Indian sweet manufacturers are playing laggards). Hotels and restaurants outdid one another offering special menus and extra-special prices. Taj Hotel Mumbai offered an overnight luxury yacht ride with all the goodies thrown in, and another five-star hotel offered to drive you down to its property in a Mercedes and after a gastronomic treat, give you the privacy of a luxury suite and chauffeur you back to reality the next morning.

Luxury products seemed to be on an optimistic high. Louis Vuitton, obviously wanting to enlarge the market, offered little trinkets, like their mobile phone holder, for a mere Rs 16,000. I remember checking the price of my mobile phone and deciding I didn't want to give it a complex.

Greeting card manufacturers were in overdrive with gargantuan cards that would need a pretty strong pair of hands to deliver. Champagne was obviously the toast of the town and the bubbly was not just being offered by the glass in restaurants, but with a host of promotions (buy a bottle, get two flutes free).

People really put their hearts into the creation of special items with the heart motif leaping out of everything from wrapping paper to the shape of pastries.

Florists were inundated with orders and were willingly paid a premium to have the bouquets and special arrangements delivered at the stroke of midnight.

So what does all this add up to?

Well, if you forget the mushy love songs and syrupy sentiments, it adds up to a real well aimed kick to further speed along the already galloping economy.

Think about it. The commerce transacted on that day has evidently hit a high second only to Diwali. Apart from the segments I have encapsulated earlier, think about the advertising agencies and design shops which created all the messages exhorting you to express your love. Think about the media houses which were inundated with advertisements of every size (not every hue, they were all in shades of red) and shape. Think about the news channels that got solid content to run and re-run through the day. It was a change to the normal doom and despair reporting that one has gotten used to. Think about the employment generated, not just to the manufacturers and service providers but even to the otherwise unemployed elements in some political parties who now had a cause to protest against. Retrace your steps to the news channels that got some more violent footage of Valentine-bashers to show you.

You will agree with me it is a great economic vehicle put together some savvy marketers. What would I change if I could? Well, I would try and embrace the spirit of the day, and provide some ethnic chic.

Why can't we take the idea that has been promoted so well and widen the scope to sell more Indianised products? Why can't we advertise and promote well-made khadi items such as handbags or apparel, heart-shaped dahi wadas, dosas and puris. Why can't the local sweetmeat producers come out with pink rosogollas and sandesh (heart-shaped, of course)? Why can't we push rose attar along with Nina Ricci fragrances? Why doesn't Rooh Afza position itself as the Valentine drink? (God knows it is red enough!) Amul would be glad to partner it as the milk of choice, and challenge Moet & Chandon. What about a heart-shaped paan dripping with gulkund (red enough, I'm sure) to round off a delectable prem-thali (one plate for two people)? The potential is unlimited, in an Indian way.

Send heart shaped venis in Maharashtra or gajras anywhere else, heart-shaped bindis (they are already red), fragrant sindoor for your wife, tinkling red glass bangles, an exclusive trip to Khajuraho instead of Mauritius, and a miniature version of the Kamasutra, bound in red satin, of course ... the mind reels under the weight of the possibilities.

I believe the time has come to stop cribbing about how we are aping a Western concept. The time has come to grasp the situation and build on it in our own unique way. After all, we never stop reminding people about our Taj Mahal (the one at Agra), and our region-specific love legends.

There is a huge commercial opportunity. We just need to adopt, adapt and innovate. After all, love in any other language would feel as great. And sell as well.

(The writer heads Canco Advertising.)

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