Love in the time of PDA

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We were told love is blind, but it seems the adage has got a few new twists in present times. Yes, love is on display and PDA’s on the rise. But youngsters strongly feel that there are limits of decency that are best not crossed.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber’s photos of PDA (public display of affection) fiesta that flashed across the Internet garnered a lot of reactions. And young admirers of the sizzling teen musical duo feel their visible confession of affection in public should have been more restrained.
Many feel gestures of affection which are fine in private, are in bad taste when one is amid others. Srishty Chaudhary, a graduate from the Scottish Church College, Kolkata says, “Love is not a trophy to be shown around. It is personal and private.”
Sofia Ahmad, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, feels that Indian youth is comfortable in indulging in acts of PDA in parks and malls where they think “random faces in the crowd will not raise eyebrows at them”.
For Sunanda Ranjan, a political science student at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, PDA is cute only to the extent of holding hands, a peck on the cheek and clasped arms. What shoots her antenna of tolerance is when lines of decency are crossed to make the onlooker disgusted. “I remember a man fondling his woman while walking down a busy street. How do you justify that?” she questions.
Arjun Vijayan, a basketball enthusiast, is averse to the idea of publicising love. He says, “Celebrities are headline-hungry. For them love is no less than a commodity to be sold. Indulging in explicit sexual gestures in the public eye is outrageous,” he adds.
But for Dipti Sahu, a student, love is to be flaunted. “To have a boyfriend by your side as you enter a pub gives you a high. Rather than being objectionable, PDA has become a common act.”
For many, it’s not about morality, aesthetics or conformity, it is more about a sense of appropriate maturity. “Everything has a time and should be experienced when that right time comes. All PDA does is give an impetus to sexual maturity way before it should occupy a young adult’s mind,” says Gargi Sengupta of Xavier’s college.
However, for most youngsters, it finally boils down to the sensibilities of an individual, his/her notions of the dividing line between decent and vulgar, and knowing how far to go and when to draw back. Pinaki Das, Class 12 student, St. Paul’s, says, “My classmates in a relationship are quite aware of where to draw the line. And all of us respect their space.”