BENGALURU: A box of chocolates, a heart-shaped red velvet cake and a candle-lit dinner? This cliched idea of romance has been chased out the door, with a bouquet of red roses sent flying after it. Couples in city are now holding parties for street dogs, flying out in helicopters or simply sending each other handwritten notes.
‘Give handwritten notes, and respect’
Geetha Srivastav and Tarun Yadav have been married for seven years now. “Our first Valentine’s Day together was right before getting married. We both don’t believe in spending a great deal on celebrations, so our wedding was also a small affair. On Valentine’s Day, we both wrote down what we felt good about each other and mailed it across via post. There is something good about receiving a hand written note.” says Geetha an IT professional. Her husband Tarun says, “What is important is how much value and respect each other.”
‘We named our daughter after love’
Jason Emmanuel and Annie Franklin had been dating each other for four years before getting married in 2014. They now have a baby who will be turning a year old this February 20 . “We both knew that our little girl will be arriving in the month of February which is the Valentine’s Day month so we decided to name her after a popular romantic character. It is an idea I picked from a blog post. Our daughter has been named Simran (from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge) and we call her Juliet (from Romeo and Juliet) at home.” says Jason.
Why should humans have all the fun?
Badri Paaras, a chef in one of the leading hotels in Bangalore used his creative genius to impress his girlfriend Daksha Naamdher, a veterinarian. He says “She just hates the idea of celebrating this day. Last year, I really wanted to do something that will make her happy. Being a vet she enjoys being in the company of animals. So I organised a meet-up amongst our common friends and neighbours who have dogs on Valentine’s Day. Activities were organised for the dogs and puppies. They could play and all of them had a lot of fun. I also had a self- curated menu for the pets- starters, main course and dessert! All the food was cooked exclusively by me. I guess that really impressed her.”
Recreating first dates
Why throw one surprise when you can do a week-full of them? Gyan Lakshmi, a software engineer in VMware, says, “This would be our first V Day after our wedding and I have decided to give my husband, a week-long series of surprises. We first met in February, therefore I decided to theme my surprises on our first meetings. My series of gifts include ‘movie night at the theatre where we met’, ‘ lunch date at the restaurant he took me out to for the first time’, ‘dinner date to joint where I got drunk for the first time’ and some other special moments that we had shared together.”
Blindfolded and flown into starry sky
Ranjitha Raghu and Srinath Santhanam have known each other since high school and tied the knot in September 2016. It was on the Valentine’s Day that year that Srinath proposed to Ranjitha in a unique manner. “I was blindfolded and taken into an open ground where people randomly came and greeted me. I could hear a propeller and didn’t have any clue what was going on. I was given a pair of headphones, and as I was putting it on, I could feel myself being lifted into the sky. My blinds were taken off and I realised I was being given a city tour of all the interesting places. Srinath then gave me a ring and proposed to me. When we landed a big huge teddy bear was waiting to give me a bear hug! I can’t express how thrilled I was!” says Ranjitha, an HR manager.