Stupid Cupid ?

STUPID CUPID ?

The month of February has always fascinated me and somehow it has played an important part in my life so far. It has 28 days generally and 29 days in a leap year. I tried to learn about this month and I was really surprised to note that when I searched on Google, in just 0.06 seconds, there were references of an astonishingly high number of sites:1,200,000,000. Is that 120 crores ? I hope I am correct. A very reliable and my favourite site is Wikipedia. Readers can visit the following site or click on the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February 

Incidentally, there are sites pertaining to February 30 (?) and February 31(?)  too. Try following links and see for yourself. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_30

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_31

Readers will be wondering about the title to this piece :”Stupid Cupid ” .I’ll just come to that in a short while. I saw my wife-to-be in February 1977! (How many years since this wonderful accident happened ? 32 years ! ) I have been a lucky guy as in my case Cupid really struck the right arrow at the right girl at the right place at the right time. However, I have come across persons who have not been perfectly matched with their mates and they have been always complaining ”Cupid is Stupid “

Why I recalled this title now is also interesting. In my 20s-25s or so, I learnt from a book from my local municipal library in Bulsar (Mahatma Gandhi Library) that we Indians believed in Kama, the God of Love as per Hinduism gospels (?) while others believed in a guy called Cupid. Why the sudden need to learn ? Well, there was an issue of “The Illustrated Weekly Of India “ (16th July 1976) (I was an avid and regular reader of this Weekly then and was one till its last days ) on the topic of “LOVE”. If I remember it correctly, there was a huge response to the issue-both positive and negative, as in those days such topics were generally a taboo and were discussed best behind closed doors. There was an avalanche of responses by way of letters to the editor-some welcoming the subject while others hitting back at the magazine for using sex (somehow sex always rightly or wrongly gets connected to love here in apna desh ) for selling its issues. Without going into the merits or demerits of such marketing gimmicks used by publishers to push their sales, I now take you a bit closer to Shriman Cupidji Maharaj. Somehow,I liked that issue and as usual I sent the following letter dated 20th July 1976 to the Editor taking a light dig on the subject matter :

Dear Sir,

CUPID (“Weekly”,July18th) may be the God of Love, but he is really often STUPID like human-beings.

( Readers will recall my recent effort at humour by writing on  words ending in ‘tine’ and rhyming with Valentine. Here too readers will note the rhyming of Stupid with Cupid ! ) 

He has his own shortcomings like us :              

(1) “Cupid may be a good shot, but he makes some awful Mrs.”

(2) “The reason Cupid makes so many bad shots is because he is aiming at the heart and  looking at the hosiery.” 

(3) ”This “Dieu De L’Amour” has no answers to an old maid’s prayer ; “Oh God, grant me an  L.S.M.F.T. husband.” ( Long, Short, Medium, Fat or Thin ! )

(4)  “When his arrows miss their target, LOVE becomes = “Lake of Sorrow, Ocean of  Tears, Valley of Death and End of Life.”  

However, one thing is certain. The world will be a lifeless place without the spark of flame of love. Yes, I agree with Ghalib’s sentiments in his oft-quoted couplet :

” The flame of love, cannot be lit, Nor can it ever die! Like havoc wrought by forest fire, It blazes always high !”   

– J S Broca—Baroda

Dear readers, since Cupid is the God associated with Valentine Day ,and Valentine Day has just gone by, I thought it fit to air my views on the stupidity or otherwise of this master arrow blaster Cupid.

I’d love to know from the readers of this piece as to whether in their cases, Cupid has been stupid or wise or over-wise or un-wise ? 

I’ll wait for your responses. SAY : Jai Ho !! Cupid Maharaj Ki !! 

PS :Before I sign off  here’s a link to that guy: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid 

SHOOT  AT SIGHT !!