Youngsters go whacky this Valentine's

From concert dates to an evening of binging on street food — youngsters are thinking of innovative ways to spend Valentine’s Day.
Not red roses, chocolates and the usual cliché gifting option. With Valentine’s Day round the corner, city youngsters are leaving no stone unturned to patao their curshes, in ways different than the usual. City students admit that gifts have not only become more personalised, but costly and thoughtful too.
For 19-year-old Sanjiv Chakravarthy, a second year student from St Mary’s, Yousufguda, Valentine’s Day is an important date to mark on his calendar. Not because he believes in the concept of celebrating love on one particular day, but because the day is important to his girlfriend. “Girls usually get upset easily, for the lamest reasons. Although they keep saying Valentine’s Day is not important and it’s just another regular day, truth is, it is special for them.
Last year, I had gifted my girl a life sized teddy bear. But this year, I bought her a cute rabbit. I’m going to leave the little fellow in a basket filled with red roses and drop it at her doorstep. And exactly when the clock strikes 12 am, I’m going to ask her to come down and get her gift. The expression on her face is something you can’t achieve with a rose or chocolates,” says Sanjiv.
Karthik Chinta, an engineering graduate thinks that personalizing gifts leave a lasting impression. This year he has decided to gift his Valentine a couple’s spa voucher and later take her for a dinner to some quaint dhaba on the outskirts. “A relaxing massage, a drive to the outskirts and a desi dhaba-style dinner — this pretty much sums up my Valentine’s Day plans this year. It will burn a hole in my pocket, but I think she’ll love it,” explains Karthik. With online shopping being a rage, many have decided to let their crushes choose their gifts, virtually. Akshay Raythatha, a student at ICFAI reveals, “There are exciting Valentine’s Day offers on the various online shopping portals — personalised beauty hampers, organic cosmetics, dainty accessories, you name it. I’m just going to ask my girl to choose her gift as she loves online shopping anyway.”
While the gifting options for women are endless, when it comes to men, most girls are left scratching their heads.
Faeza H, a commerce student from St Ann’s Mehendipatnam, rues about the limited gifting options for men. “I’m going to go with the safest bet — a wrist watch. You cannot go wrong with that. Yes, it is repetative, but guys can never get tired of watches,” says Faeza. Material gifts aside, concerts and theatre dates too are hit this year.
P Monika*, an arts student from a city college is taking her Valentine for a play. “My boyfriend loves theatre, but I just can’t sit through a play! However, this time around, I thought I’ll surprise him by getting tickets to a play and later get some street food. It’s not too jazzy, but definitely a cute gesture,” reveals Monika.