8/13/2019 A Rose is More Than a Rose
1/1
, -rTh .. ~j n.I ... e Inman .cost .,..
Bombay, Wednesday. December 16, 1987 ,-,~ \,
>. ,.G.lJbarath ona heart-w(J,r:fning cUStom
a1J1ongst;uden(sA rose...ts more .than a. roseI l' is ,said .that
CUPid. bribed'/ ffipP9crates Yith a rose to~ /conceal, the doings
of Ve-
,nus,:-ailf;ltlIe,;erJll 'under therose' or its Latin form sub
rosacame into' English usage. tomean 'secretly'. Taking the cuefrom
Cupid, our innovativeteens have created Ros~Day-a day which can be
pegged(JIlto ,any date -' to communicatetqeirinner
feeliIlgsc~ndestinl. -~ . \Whena college-goer.wantsto~nvey his love
for someonespecial, he can,do it on a'desig-mited RoseDayWithor
througha rose, Beit revealing love, orbefriending someone new,
o'rgetting over hostility. it can bedonejust bysending a red,
yel-low or white rose respectivelyon a Rose DI;iY.The modUsoperandi
is,quitesimple. The sender of the'mes-sage has to register his name
,that ofthe receiver and the mei~.sage (of love, friendship
orpeace) Witha'nominated repre-sentative, paying a small tokenfee:
The rep (it could be a kid, brother or SLrusted friend)doesthe
postman's job of personallydelivering the rose. The colourof the
ros~ is the message. Red,stands for love, yellow forfrien~ship and
~hite for peace.. Rose Day goes beyond 'Valen-tine's day' and.'Hi
Day' Dn Val-entine's Day,(February 14). theenamoured selid
billet-doux.usually Without signatures. 'HiD/iY,'in practice
iti.some Euro-pean countries, is the day you
. can say 'hello' to any strangerand make him or her
.yourfriend.,.Rose Day helps in a,voidingugly moments of
embarrass-ment, says the blue-denimed. DOris,an apparent
blue-stock-ing. When an impulsive snobproposes toyouand pledges
hislife toyouon the first encounter,youcan't sayan outright 'no'
for
fear of wounding him. Neithercan you laugh at him, norpreach to
him, and you are leftbeating about the b:ush to getyour point~cro$S
-.usl aIly~I at'you're not interested. But Whenyoureturn a red
rosewith,ayel~
be impati.ent. Can they wait till-Rose 'Day,usually observed
notmore,than once a year, to say tosomeone '~Jlove,you ? Mo~ ofthem
do. Even the most confi-dent of boys like Sunil goesthrough
pulse-pounding appre-hension..Hesays, It takessOlpe .guts to do it
straight, for a.blunt~no', slapped on yoqr face is.sure to' become
g6ssip::sU,iff.And many a guy. I think, willwreck his nerves and,
bungle.while.attemptmg to express hislo'vefor a Jdrl. though hemay
beat ease tOr triVial chats witbher. .There,are some girls who
shyawayfrom this event, as receiv-ing a red rose embarrasses
low o~e, indicatfug YOtk'n~th- .ing~more:~im-friends'
offer,'you're more euphemiSti~and heis far l~ss4eje~.
.Ados.her'buddy Bbinu, Notonlythat;:lt~aves a lotofvindic-tiveness.
Th~,boy would beseetflirig . 'with an openrejectio~.But
impulsiv,eboys,will also. .~ ,f# o ...,
\,
their\. Soft-spolcen'Shobha ,asophomore, reminiSces. of' th~Rose
Day when she lrit:rYiei,fcHlege after being tipp~~her confidantes
.that.see~.a red againstFlatteriIigthopgh itShobhawas a little
taketo'find some6~rrn.enti$'~tantly'b
.oasti~ ~g
.J,)ut,.th
.
.e;]'ber ofreqs theygoL J..a; .But NiSha, gregari~;rs.
. is, calls th~e. boIier::tJt.~i;g.9ro,'girls a bit too
stuffyt~C()~-at the ,way they blush eve'nwMIi;>, talking t9
boys. ,. .Though the red goes 'unidi'-ractional on most
occ.asionS~there is a mutual. exc,hange ofyellows and whites.
Yelm,w..does a beautiful jobof'JJl~king ,new friends; admits
spobha.When Iwas in my first year -when everybody 'Yasne~t9 e
,erybodYelse - it was al ,ays ei-ther'Vini or me wh9kepttoP-ping in
all the class tests. That'l'develo
.ped a SQr;tOfgaP
.
be.twe
..
e,
i1.
. ,us, though I never h' rla bi(of, jhostilitytowar:ds
her~B}lt.tMt ,'was' oniy8tffilwe e- c~~-~yellows on a Rose
Day,witeither of us knowiPg th~ttl}eother. was sending one.
,N.ow?u,r .academic greed doesn'~.\stai;tt,t ~~between us and we.
are;.,O[course; closenow:' '..Apar.t fx:omacqui1intiJ1 fp~6-''pie;
yellows are also exch,ll,~g ;as a gesture of
reatfjrma~ioIY;;offriendship. And white?,}tjs hot t,unusual in
adolescent.' yeats,when a small tiffor a misundet~standing causes a
peip@l)~tsplit between good ffie,n;:Iswhen pride stops tb'em
Jr9mmaking up. But, through awhite. tl,1eycan melt
awaytll'*froze~,diff~r~ces and bt~mechumsagam. '. ~. '...,, -' '..,
When ~e:rose' Wit;h~rS;;lJ1ethorn i$ left,l:i~hi~d.1JJlt.~e ,-' ,;
Rose Day fad~s, .Its fr ~~ ~lingers in one s Ipe~dryf6.r a.
J9iJg.long time: . ..t}~.
