Much of the world woke up to some adorably buggy Valentine's Day wishes on the Google homepage Thursday, a little gift celebrating "the universal, undeniable power of love."
Google's doodle team came up with a timely animation featuring all kinds of bugs in their romantic rituals of courtship—worms making love-hearts with their wriggly bodies, ladybugs looking deep into each others' compound eyes and spiders finding love in an entangled web. The lesson, according to Google's doodle blog: "Love comes in all shapes and sizes—or even species!"
» RELATED: Who was St. Valentine? History of Valentine's Day
Folks in India, on the other hand, woke up to a homepage tribute to Indian cinema icon Madhubala, popularly known as "the Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood." The colorful illustration from Bangalore-based artist Muhammed Sajid honors the actress on what would have been her 86th birthday.
Born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehelvi in Delhi, Madhubala and her family moved to the slums of Bombay when she was just a child. They lived near the Bombay Talkies film studio, where she would make her debut as a child actor in the 1942 film “Basant.”
» RELATED: 'Be my anti-valentine': Some of 2019's most hilarious Valentine's Day memes
After that, Madhubala "quickly rose to fame and did her first adult role in the 1947 film 'Neel Kamal,' only 14 at that time," according to Hindustan Times. "From then, till her death, she continued to dominate Hindi film industry. Yet, hers was a life cut short by failing health and despite being adored by millions, she was utterly unlucky in love."
In fact, the beautiful actress had fallen in love with “Mughal-e-Azam” and “Tarana” co-star, Dilip Kumar, but her father refused to let them marry. And according to Hindustan Times, “her eventual marriage to Kishore Kumar was hardly a happy one.”
» RELATED: Valentine's Day 2019 restaurant, flower and other gift deals
But her career, albeit brief, was undeniably successful. Before her death in 1969, Madhubala had appeared in more than 70 films, was called "The Biggest Star in the World" by Theatre Arts magazine and even appeared on a commemorative stamp in India in 2008, according to the Google blog.
She died at age 36 due to deteriorating health related to a congenital heart condition.
About the Author
