How a Mishti Litfest is a true ambassador of Valentine's Day

Kolkata: Yes, you did read it right and I have not quite lost my head. Just that the Jugal's Mishti ( Mithai) Litfest held in the Kolkata Town Hall over the weekend was worth losing your heart to.

Today is of course Valentine's Day, a blockbuster opportunity for lovers and marketers to make hay. A 30-year-old hype at best, this is a rather open-ended celebration of love, with no strings desired or attached. It's easiest served as a card, better presented via a rose and a dinner can surely seal the short-term affiliation. For in the long run, to extrapolate Keynes, we are all wed.

But in its truest essence, love need not stick to routine rigmarole. It can be between friends or across generations and can even extend to fellows you deeply admire - from teachers to doctors or even plumbers if the pipes at home suffer incontinence. It can certainly be extended to folks we are unlikely to ever meet - Virat Kohli, Sara Ali Khan or a handsome politician. But somewhere along the way, in India surely, we have narrowed the stream to amorous alliances, in truth or ambition.

This is also why the celebrations of the day are also frighteningly commercial and increasingly cinematic. Restaurants and hotels offer bombastic packages, trapping many with the lure of trappings. Depending on the balance of power, some plan this evening with due diligence, choosing the better-heeled over the truly desired. The former does a fine job for the event while the latter can well be intelligently pursued over canteen samosa the following Monday.

The Jugal's Mishti Litfest is truly a fine specimen of how love must be allowed to flow freely and unconditionally, an abettor of civilization. Folks love mishti and that is a connection we all know well but the twist in the tale is how mishti loves literature and vice versa, sounding incestuous but actually symbiotic. Thus when the unlikely triumvirate of chronically sweet teeth, an eclectic ensemble of celestial creations and proven literary cum historical context break bread, the romance is scandalously electric.

Why this fest also works is the understated depth of the self-same romance, overshadowed spontaneously by the epicurean priorities. Much before Starbucks marketed the idea, the mishthan bhandar in Bengal and undeniably elsewhere was a genuine Third Place, not just work and not simply play but a provocative union. There are stories of how freedom fighters hung in such locations and the proprietors staved off the CID with suitable decoys, not least of which was the roshogolla.

Also, such establishments continue to be genuinely inclusive, acting as all-day dining for weary foot soldiers and coffee table luxuries for the better blessed. What adds to the stickiness is the bonding between sweet and salty, not bondage. The kachoris can provide a fine foundation for the constitution and the mithai is indeed the finale we mostly cherish.

This fest opened up the potential of multifaceted romance, enlisting the plainly visible yet visibly understated literary, business and pop culture dimensions. Folks spoke about realities and aspirations, ranging from employment to premiumisation and indeed, opportunities. But my focus of the day is love and that is where the argument will preside.

For too long and certainly in recent times, we have cultivated a unidimensional definition of love. That it must be between people and that too heterogeneous people, any deviation from the norm is seemingly abnormal. While the ambit extends effortlessly to every domain of influence, wherever the common binding parameter is unabated respect and notarized affection. Not excluding music, books, food and indeed every kind of human being, unrelated to physiological intensities. This is a culture shift that is both desirable and valuable and rarely does this twain happily meet.

Technology, otherwise an able catalyst, is possibly endangering the potential of love and let me suggest why. Dating apps, a preferred intermediary, eliminate the necessary rigours of the chase and can be dangerously damaging. Social media activism, otherwise a necessary and potent force, can well attract scammers demeaning the purpose of sincere vigilance. We are rapidly becoming a cynical society and avenues for expressing love are under increasing scrutiny.

It will be very useful, from every possible dimension, to cultivate the maximum opportunities for loving. This will lead to sharper cardiac health, finer mental equilibrium and indeed, a greater appetite for living. A formula not proven by theoretical chemistry but undeniably acknowledged by old-fashioned common sense, sufficient without a doubt.

Lest we forget, St. Valentine was a  martyred saint. So we need to remember that this destiny need not automatically extend to society at large if we make the right moves. The beginning of which is to lovingly liberate the definitions of love, as an integrated propeller of civilization.

On the Jugal's Litfest, others in the nation must be suitably inspired, with replicable sincerity. On Valentine's Day, please do enjoy with appropriate joy, while trying to be truthful about intent and ability.