Tuesday, February 14, 2012

PEST Analysis of V-day :)


‘Paralysis by Analysis’, well this is what can be expected with an MBA degree flowing in the veins!

Political: ‘All the world's a stage!’ not just Shakespeare believed that, but indeed the global political arena abounds with stories of love scandals rehearsed throughout history - JFK & Monroe, FDR & Mercer, Monicagate etc. And our own government is not way behind – from the early Edwina-Nehru controversy, to the latest news of ministerial involvement in the Bhanwari Devi episode. For some conservative religious groups, V-day provides a golden chance to play a few political stunts. And one can only imagine the extent to which some fundamentalist or terrorist organizations can go.

Economical: ‘Money can’t buy love, but it improves the bargaining position’, so said the Elizabethan tragedian. So much - for buying Tanishq jewelry, Archies gifts, Hallmark cards or Ferns N Petals’ roses. Commercial planters become pricey too, not because of increase in the production costs but because of the ruling law of demand vs. supply. During times of recession, Cupid defies the economy, providing the much-needed consumer spending on merchandise, movies and restaurants. Forbes India has estimated the average V-day costs to be a whopping Rs 3,600. With inflation in mind, some may think it’s pretty good to stay single.

Social: ‘For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comyth there to choose his mate’. Blame Chaucer (Parliament of Fowls) for associating this day with romantic love, that now it’s largely not seen as a day for platonic love or friendship. Glorifications of Lord Kamadeva, sculptures of Khajuraho temples, demonstrate that in the archaic times the Indian culture embodied the importance of love. With the passage of time, some began to see V-day as cultural contamination. If that ‘chubby winged boy’ carries the bow and arrow, the goons carry the lathis and guns. Despite this, the youths fancy this pseudo-western tradition; that many a times it also gets converted into a phony, pretentious, commercialized day. For unoccupied people, there is 24x7 media & entertainment, sensationalizing the lovey-dovey crap.

Technological: ‘Lord, I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing?’, that may be Jonathan Swift’s opinion. Since then volumes have been written to demystify this science. Bio-physicists dissecting the anatomy of cheek-bones to discover the driving current, chemists testing the sucrose level of relationships and mathematicians propounding the associative law of V-day 14-02-12 = zero. Not to forget the evergreen engineers and their wealth of knowledge: from 'Why I Will Never Have a Girlfriend': an empirical AI research paper on the problems in securing a companion, to 'Cyberlover': the hackers designing robo-lovers phishing for information. And for those who simply and only want to increase their connections, there’s always ‘The Social Network’ to rely on.

Then some management gurus added another dimension to it:

Legal: ‘Once bitten, twice shy’, the idiom sounds a warning bell not to ignore the lawful power of love and be careful the first instance. At school people diligently swap the valentines, but at office it could be seen as a violation of the discrimination laws. In some places, the liquor laws can make the V-day blue for some. Then there’s betrayal or black-mail in various forms – MMS scandals, honor killings, sting operations. Further there’s the whole gamut of family laws covering everything from prenuptial agreement to alimony. And this march for fairness and equality culminated in legalizing marriages for LGBT community in some foreign countries.

To sum up, PEST (L) or SLEPT is the question: make V-day terrific with family and friends and enjoy a peaceful sleep; or do the reverse and make it terrible with hostility and detest a pestiferous world!
Further Readings:  
Slideshare: IEEE Paper - Why I don't have a girlfriend

(V-day wishes for my near n dear ones)