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Valentine's Day Gift

It was Valentine's Day and we both had a long day at work as it was a weekday. When will they decide that it should be a holiday dedicated to loving couples we thought. Much like the Karva Chauth for married women, there should be a day dedicated to loving couples too. But the mood was upbeat, the day passed off well and we returned home to a happy warm house and we now ready for the evening.

I had booked a table at the TK's at Hyatt and we were looking forward to a cosy evening of good Tepanyaki being stir fried in front of us and a bottle of fine wine to celebrate the occasion. As we were handing over the keys to the valet, lo and behold, Taron and Gayatri, our best friends, were also hopping off their SUV and looking all happy and gay.

"Guys! what are you doing here", I exclaimed.

"Taking my lady to TK's for a cosy dinner".

What a small world! We teamed up and took our seats at one of the well placed tables and sat down to enjoy an evening of warmth and cheer. The king prawns and white wine met each other like long lost friends as they joined forces inside our bellies. The music and decor catered to the occasion of Valentine's and soon we four were so engrossed in our conversation that how time flew, no one knew.

Vineeta has been asking for some months now for a new mobile phone but somehow or the other, we had not been able to get down to it. Secretly I had gone to the market yesterday and had picked up a new MotoRockr model; loaded it with a new SIM (don't ask for the number) and loaded over 100 love songs on the memory card. Then during the evening, on the pretext of going to the men's, I handed the same to the manager at TK's and told him to be ready to bring it to our table on my cue.

As we were digging into the chocolate mousse, I cued and the manager came to her with the phone and said, 'Ma'am, there is a phone call for you'.

Perplexed, she took the phone in her hands and whispered a hesitant 'Hello'.

While all this was happening, I had stepped out behind a pillar, called her new SIM and on my phone played the song 'You are Beautiful' by James Blunt. That kept her listening and in a bit, I stopped playing the song and said, "Hey darling, Happy Valentines Day".

She was so shocked to hear my voice as she thought I was sitting at the table that she exclaimed, 'What! Where are you, how come you are calling on this number and why did you not call on my phone', to which I answered, 'I am'.

It took a few moments of silence to sink in, her mind thinking, what does he mean, 'I am'. She looked again at the swank MotoRockr in her hand and slowly it dawned upon her and we saw the smile cover her face,

'YOU are crazy you know' she said and everyone clapped and just then the management brought in champagne and a cake with the girl's names on it to celebrate.

Once the glasses were full, I brought up a toast to all four and then took out my piece de resistance, a cuddly white Teddy bear carrying a red heart in his hands and gave it to Vineeta, Happy Valentine's again.

The girls went on, "Oh so sweet! Oh so cute!" and took turns cuddling the Teddy instead of us unfortunately.

Excitement over, we returned to our conversation, and resumed our dialogues, then I said, 'Baba, aren't you inquisitive about something?'

Screech! conversation stopper around the table. 'What do you mean', came out in a small voice hesitantly. And all eyes were upon me.

With a straight face, I looked at the Teddy sitting proud on the table and said, 'Aren't you inquisitive about what's in his heart".

Bomb dropped, I sat back to watch the reaction. The girls looked at each other, tweaked their eyebrows and you could hear the gears grinding in their brain. One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three.....I counted and then in one motion, both the ladies reached out and grabbed poor old Teddy and were keenly examining the red heart when they discovered that it was attached to Teddy with Velcro and when delicately prized, it came out in their hands.

Examining the heart closely, they found a small bump at the back, which when pressed, opened the heart and lo and behold, there was a set of diamond earrings inside.

Swoon, is a mild term of what happened next. With a squeal of unbridled joy, she literally leapt across the table to give me the hug of the century. Women & diamonds, what a deadly combination (although guys reading this - believe there is a new kid in town called platinum that beats the diamond cousin). Try that out for size sometime. I have, it works wonders.

The story goes on but my hand grows weary. It was a beautiful Valentine,s, don't ask me what gift I got as those are private matters. And if Taron is reading this, friend, this was my story, I know you had one that night of your own, but another day, another page.

Happy Valentines to all, enjoy the day, do not get into imbroglio of political vistas caused by biased parties and enjoy the day for what it is meant, to celebrate the love that God has kindly given us to cheer.

The author is Gautam Nath, Executive Vice President, TNS India. A leading corporate figure in the area of Change Management, Human Resources and Corporate Communication. His articles feature in leading Indian business journals and dailies and he is on the expert panel for several management institutes in the country. He also writes articles on travel around the country and the world. He may be contacted at gautam.nath@tns-global.com