How Do I Love Thee, My Valentine? Let Me Count the Ways …
Compiled By Manu Shah
HOUSTON: On the occasion of their Golden Jubilee, a Gujarati husband in Houston was asked the secret of his happy married life. His answer was short and simple. He had taken his wife to Mumbai for their 25th wedding anniversary. So did he have anything special planned for his 50th wedding anniversary? Apparently he did. He planned to go and get her back!
While we don’t recommend such a farfetched recipe for a blissful married life, we suggest that this Valentine, and in fact the whole year, do something special, thoughtful and romantic for each other. Here’s how some Houston couples have remembered their Valentine – and some do it all year long. Read on!
Puneet Friebott: In almost 18 years of marriage, Eric has always done small things like starting up my car and warming my seat on cold mornings so I am not cold when I get in the car and he doesn’t let me carry grocery bags. However the most romantic thing he has ever done is getting my name tattooed on his arm a few years ago without even telling me. He researched and asked my mom and friends to help him get the Hindi spelling of my name right and got it done!!
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Veena Kaul: I really don’t have a story to share! During the first few years of marriage we gave gifts to each other, but after a few years we started realizing that this was just another day for us, nothing special. For us small gestures in our daily life mean more than celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Leena Shah: On my first Valentine’s Day, Ash gave me this GIGANTIC V-Day card (when I say “gigantic” it was about 3 feet x 2 feet) along with flowers, candies, gifts, poem, wine, dinner, etc. but to be honest, as years passed by, the charm, romance and novelty of Valentine’s Day did diminish somewhat. The romantic poem was the first to go, followed by flowers, followed by candies. The gift and dinner will ALWAYS continue between us and IF I don’t get a gift and dinner on this special day – ASH KNOWS HE WILL BE IN TROUBLE! Our little boys do join us for Valentine’s dinner and we actually like that, as we believe that we are setting an example to do the same for their future significant other!!
Sangeeta Pasrija: During our courtship days, I told Arun to make my birthday special for me. Since then for the past 28 years, I’ve received the ‘most’ beautiful birthday card with the sweetest sentimental message. Another endearing thing he does is sing a song he picked up in Chinmaya Mission. Jane kya jaadoo bhara hua bhagwan tumhari Geeta mein’ since my pet name is Geeta. The most sacrificing action he does for me is become Darth Vader at night….puts on his sleep apnea machine, so I can sleep!
Ekta Taneja: Sanjay does not do anything special on Valentine Day but his little gestures like making vegetable juice for me every morning when I wake up and helping me with the dishes and cleaning after dinner mean more to me. His most romantic gesture I think is when he watched a show he doesn’t like just to keep me company.
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Jasmeeta Singh: We usually celebrate Valentine with family and friends. Red roses worked for 15-20 years but after that we give each other white roses since “Pyar se zyada Ghar mein shanti ki zarurat hoti hai”. The other difference is first I could eat chocolates on Valentine but now I can’t “swad se zyada sehat ki zarurat hoti hai…Eat healthy stay healthy”. This year we complete 25 years of marriage and we just pray to god to keep us safe and healthy so we can keep on serving the community.
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Arzan Gonda: I once threw my husband a surprise birthday party. I left the front door open earlier in the morning and at 6:30am we had around 25 people run into our bedroom and SURPRISE him…he almost had a heart attack…but that was one of the most memorable birthdays ever. This was possible because a good friend and neighbor had everyone gather at her house at 6.00 am and since we had planned all the meals the day before – we partied all day.