RiPa, RiKa, Rose; A Pocket Full of Prose
Kabir and his wife, Rishta, moved half a world away from their families, to build a life in a new country. While it came with its challenges, RiKa (their couple name) were glad to have found friends who made them feel a little bit at home in the alien country. Of these friends, their closest friends were Rinkle and Parth (or RiPa, as their couple name went). Having made the move to this new country before RiKa, RiPa were kind and generous with the wisdom they had gained from their experience. They were a guiding light for RiKa to navigate the administration and bureaucracy of the new country, like when they were looking for an apartment or buying a car. RiPa steered an occasional escape from the monotony of life in the new country, like when they took RiKa for skiing and sledging to the mountains. And RiPa planned and orchestrated many celebrations from birthdays to anniversaries which RiKa cherished.
But this is not a story about the good times they shared. This is a story about a dilemma that a single rose presented.
Until recently, the fourteenth day of the second month each year presented an opportunity to declare one’s love. While traditionally, in a religion that’s alien to many, the day was marked to honour martyrs named Valentine, over time it became a cultural and commercial celebration of love across a large part of the world and was…
