हमारे देश में वेलेंटाइन दिवस मनानेका रिवाज कितना पुराना है ये कहना मुश्किल होगा | प्रेमी--युगुलोंको वेलेंटाइन के दिन कि प्रतीक्षा रहती है | इस दिन को मनाने के रीति _रिवाज मजेदार होते है | इस दिन गुलाब के फूलोंकी बड़ी माँग होती है | कोई एक गुलाबका फुल अपने प्रेमिका को देता है तो कोई गुलाब के फुलोंका गुलदस्ता देनेमें धन्यता मानता है | गुलाबोंमें भी रंगोंके प्रकार होते है | लाल गुलाब का मतलब होताहै प्यार का इजहार , गुलाबी रंग के गुलाब प्यारभरी दोस्ती कि ओर इशारा करते है | पीले रंगोवाले गुलाब सिर्फ दोस्ती का हाथ बढ़ाते है |

स्कुलोंतक तो वेलेंटाइन दिन का असर नही दीखता , पर कोलेजोंमें तो बड़ी धूमधाम दिखाई देती है | हर लड़की बाहरसे तो शांत दिखाई देती है पर अंदरही अंदर शरमाइसी , थोड़ी घबराइसी रहती है | मानो आज उसकी परीक्षा है ,न जाने किसकी तरफसे कितने गुलाब मिलेंगे और उसे क्या जवाब देना पड़ेगा | मनचाहे साथीदार कि तलाश हर किसी को रहती ही है ना |

कहते है कि रोम के शासक क्लोड़ीयस द्वितीय ने अपने शासन कारकीर्द में अपने सिपाहियों पर अपने प्रेमिकओंसे मिलने और शादी करने पर पाबंदी लगाई थी| तब वेलेंटाइन ने इन प्रेमी युगुलोंको मिलाया और उनकी छुपकर शादियाँ करवाई | इस बात से नाराज क्लोडियस ने वेलेंटाइन को मृतुदंड देनेका फैसला किया | वह दीन था १४ फरवरी २६९ ई | तब से इस दिन को विश्वभर में प्य्रार का प्रतिक मानकर मनाया जाता है | ये दिन हमे संत वेलेंटाइन कि याद दिलाता है |  

आजकल वेलेंटाइन दिन मनाने के तरीको में काफी बदलाव आया है | खुबसूरत तोफोंसे हर दुकान ,हर बाजार ,हर गली सजी हुई दिखाई देती है | अलग अलग किस्म के तोंफें देने कि होड़ लगाती है | कोई गुलाब देना पसंद करता है तो कोई लव बर्ड्स देता है , हृदय याने दिल तो हर कोई उपहार स्वरुप देना पसंद करता है| हर चीज दिल के आकर कि | लाल रंग का दिल बड़ा लुभावना लगता है |

इसमें और एक चीज का समावेश होता है | ग्रीटिंग कार्ड | बड़ी खूबसूरती से सजाई गई ये कार्ड्स और उसपर लिखी गई मेसेज अपनी अलग छाप छोड़ जाती है | उसपर ताज सजता है चोकलेट का , वह भी आजकल अलग अलग आकरोंमें मिलती है | सबसे पसंदीदा आकर दिल का होता है |

                 ''यों तो हर दिल किसी दिल पै फ़िदा होता है |

       प्यार करने का मगर तौर जुदा होता है ||''

Self-sacrifice means giving up one’s interest fovor of God, country or others. It is love that prompts self-scrifice. Not all cases of self-scrifice are noticed.

 Look at your mother. She spends the day looking after your needs. Even after a hard day’s work she will gladly spend the night besides your bed when you are sick. Look at father who gives up many opportunities in life just because of his family’s compulsions. These are examples of self-sacrifice, which are not proclaimed. The world progresses in moral live because of the lessons from the lives of such heroes whose actions are prompted by love.

 In our moral lives we must have certain principles and live according to them. Those who do not do wrong despite the opportunity, those who do not accept bribes despite the offers, those who do their duties despite all the difficulties-they are the heroes of today. They are the people who are willing to lay down lives for the sakes of their principles, their values of their country. Self-sacrifice can be practiced in our daily life Self-sacrifice can be practiced in our daily life

 Self-sacrifice can be practiced in our daily life. Sharing food with somebody who has forgotten to bring his Tiffin, giving up one’s playtime to help the weak in studies, giving up a part of the pocket money for some charitable or noble cause are all examples of self-sacrifice. It not only benefits the needy and the helpless but also gives true happiness to one. An animal can think of only fulfilling his own desires but it requires good human qualities to be able to provide benefits to those around you.

 We make friends or enemies first by the way we speak and behave. Even a person who is rude can be won over if we are gentle and polite with him. Speak to people gently. If you are polite to your parents, teachers and friends, they will also be polite. When everyone is polite, there will be a lot of happiness around. You will also be a happy person.

Old people say that childhood is the best part life. They look back at their childhood and remember all its happy days- the jolly games, the long rambles in the country, the fun they had at school, their kind father and mother and the little sisters and brothers, the old home, the sweets and cakes they used to eat, the children’s parties, the jokes they used to play, and the presents they got.

 When they were children, they had not to work hard to get something to eat; their mothers gave them all they wanted. Their childish troubles, as they look back on them, seem very small and silly: they laugh over them now. They had no great sorrow, no heavy burdens to carry, and no dangers to face. The world to them then was a very beautiful place, and they did not know that men could be cruel and hard. They believed all that was told to them, and they did not know how false and dishonest people could be. They were simple and innocent, and as happy as the day was long. So they sometimes sigh and wish they could be children again.

 Perhaps these old folk are right. And yet I think they forget many things that were not so pleasant in their childhood. Perhaps if some fairly took them at their word and turned them into children again, they would not like it.

 There is a funny story called vice versa, that tells of a boy who was crying because he had to go back to school after the holidays, and his father scolded him, and said, `why I only wish I could be a boy and go to school again.’ And the fairies heard him: and all in a moment the father was a little boy, and his son was a grown man like his father. And the father, in the shape of a little boy, had to go to school; and I can tell you he did not like it at all. A child’s troubles may seem small to grown up people; but they are very big to him.

 Yet, after all, perhaps childhood is the happiest time. So while we are children, we should make the most of it. And it is a very important time in a man’s life, as a great poet said, `the child’s is father of man.’ What he meant was that a man’s character is largely settled in his childhood. What sort of men we shall be depends on what we learn and what we do as children?

City life also known as Urban life is quite different from the rural life and the people living in cities are also  quite different in nature, habit, taste, manners and thought from the rural people. Besides there are actually various pros and cons of the city life which I would like to discuss in this article of mine.

Basically, in my opinion city lives have various pros or better known as advantages. People living in cities  are quite different from the rural people in relation with life styles, eating habits, their surroundings, their way of communication etc. It has been found in a recent survey  that the city people are more educated than rural people and due to this fact they can face any problem in their day to day life. People living in cities very often prefer ready made and non-vegetarian food as they don't bother about cooking them and eating them regularly throughout the thirty days on a given month. This has become more or less their habit because of the fact they don't have much time left to do so and both men and women work for a living here in most of the household. The people living in cities are more busy and have value for their time than the rural people as their standard of living compels them to work hard to meet the expenses of their day to day life. People living in cities are very much fond of going and visiting different places and researching the monuments, scriptures, statues etc. There are many examples of great people who belong to the cities.

In comparison to the urban people, people living in rural areas have limited income and they try their best to earn more money but somehow they cannot achieve their goal. The people of rural areas are not so educated and they cannot afford to have better irrigation and cultivation facilities in order to grow more crops. The farmers in the rural areas have to depend on weather for rain for their income and its very risky if the rain fails to arrive at the proper time. So considering this fact, the city people enjoy a more stable kind of life and earning and they are far more luckier then the people of the rural areas. Moreover, the employment facilities are more in the urban areas than the rural areas and if one is hardworking, he will not die from hunger and thrust. The over all means of communication and  communication facilities are also  well developed in cities in comparison to the remote villages. A city is the centre of trade, industry and education. It is the nerve centre of the business and is therefore involved with full of activity, development and change. And to add to it all, the best medical facilities are also available here with large well-equipped hospitals and doctors.

In Spite of all these facilities, I think city life is far from being peaceful and happy. They seldom  live in unity and harmony and often create big issues for a trifle matters. There are many instances when a crime and robbery took place in the next door and the family living beside is unaware of it or pretends to be unaware of it for their own safety. In comparison to this the people of the rural areas live as a whole unit and they care and share with each other in their problems and woes. Apart from these, the people living in cities are more money minded and they think of money more rather than respecting their elders  and parents. Many youths in the city take to smoking, drinking, and gambling and sometimes they even get involved with antisocial activities. If they are morally weak they always choose the wrong path and the crime rate of city increases. Moreover, they keeps on eating a lot of junk food which is not at all good for their health. The rural people never indulge themselves with these activities for they have only limited money to fulfil the basic necessities of life and in a way it helps them a lot. I believe the rural areas are the perfect breeding grounds of our youngsters and it will help them to grow as an individual far from the madding crowd of cities. There is ample playgrounds, rivers, fresh air, healthy food and the people here are of simple and straightforward in their approach. A middle class life in city is like living in a small flat bounded in the four walls and in the scarcity of water and electricity and living in the arms of pollution.

Though I mentioned alot of disadvantages about the life in cities if you ask me personally which kind of life I would prefer, I would answer you that I would love to live in a city as the people living here are more broad-minded and they get better employment opportunities. The life in city keeps us busy without any boredom and always keeps us on the move. Though many poets have written poems about the life in cities and villages, I think it depends on ones personal preference and choice where one wants to live.