February the 14th is a bit over-rated date. Isn’t it? Thanks to the overwhelming display of love and commercially planted expectations, all that is left to the most-awaited day of the year (strictly for people hopelessly in love) is high expectations and the following disappointments.
Anyway it’s Valentine’s Day and time to celebrate “love” and all one wishes is that the day turns out to be perfect. But one can’t really trust life. Sometimes, you don’t get what you want. In fact, your dream date can end up in a disaster. We spoke to youngsters, who shared their Valentine’s Day nightmares and soul-crushing experiences.
Finance professional Amit Seth recalls how last year he was stood up by the love of his life and the incident became a wound that still hurts. “It is not that she didn’t know about my feelings for her. She didn’t reject my proposal for a dinner date. But it was just not fair that I was made to wait at the restaurant for hours only to be told later that she can’t come as she is out with her girl gang. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life,” rues Amit.
Maanwi Majumdaar, a DU student too had her share of harassment when she was gifted a box full of cockroaches on Valentine’s Day. She says, “In school it is considered cool to be in a relationship. So everybody used to tease me because I was single. When I was in Class 10, a bunch of mischievous boys planned to play a prank on me. One guy proposed to me and asked me out for a Valentine’s date. When we met he gave me a box with cockroaches in it. As I shrieked in horror, all the boys who were hiding came out laughing and I left with my eyes heavy with tears.”
But getting a thing you hate the most as a gift is no better than social embarrassment. “I was mortified to see a leopard print dress as his gift for me. I have always hated leopard prints. But I was madly in love with this man, I wore it and I didn’t tell him how much I hated it. I’m now married to him. Amazingly, he’s much better at buying gifts now,” says Sarah Joseph, a homemaker.
However, designer A.D. Singh’s strategy was to make the the day memorable as well as fun. He asked his girlfriend to seal their love with a marriage certificate and she agreed.
“I made a wedding card and told her to get married to me on Valentine’s Day. I asked a friend of mine to pose as a lawyer. She was confused but she came and freaked out when she saw ‘You are a dumbo. Since you didn’t realise I was kidding, it means you need more time to know me well. So marriage can wait for some more time’ written on the paper. I didn’t know how would she react but when she started laughing, I heaved a sigh of relief.”