India… Our homeland. Our birthplace. Our home. Our family. Our love. And in recent times the subject of our most bitter quarrels as a people.

This Valentines Day weekend, 14th-16th February 2020 we gather to celebrate our first Love- India.

We gather to celebrate India we know and love- the India of tolerance, the India of acceptance, the India that strove to be a better place for even her most oppressed children, the India that was a dream. We celebrate the India of Tagore and Gandhi, of Nehru and Maulana Azad, of Patel and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the India of Ashfaqullah, Bismil, Savitribai Phule, Fatima… The India of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar.

The event is collaborative and celebratory. A chance to reaffirm our faith in our fraternity; in our unity; in our constitution- as Indians. Because no matter what our political differences maybe, we can all agree that we love India. And that’s enough to help us rise above our divisions.

A bunch of us- a motley group of friends with some industry links and some activists- namely producer Aditi Anand, me (Swara Bhasker- actor and mess!) and activist Fahad Ahmad and Mitali Bhasin and a whole bunch of volunteers
are putting together this programme called India My Valentine on Valentine weekend 14-16 Feb.. celebrating India.

The idea is to have cultural intervention and performances in 12-15 Indian cities that weekend.. instead of focusing on protest we focus on the celebration.
We are collaborating with various artists, groups, venues, and networks in cities – over three days, about 13 venues across Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata, Punjab, Bangalore, Hyderabad – to host India My Valentine programmes and performances.

Join us! This year, make India your Valentine 🙂

Team India My Valentine.

P.S. This program is non – corporate, non – political and is funded by donations from friends, well-wishers, and networks of like-minded well-meaning patriotic Indians.