5 things I hate about being single on Valentine’s day

We have all been there. Love is in the air and there’s a flicker of romance in everyone’s eyes but you’ve just gone through a bad breakup and are a member of the ‘loners club’.

Your friends excitedly make big plans for D-day. They have already bought new outfits to wear along with gifts for their loved ones. But all you can do is listen with a poker face as they share ideas and ask for advice resisting the need to scream. You begin to hate your newly acquired relationship status for various reasons:

5) Paraphernalia
Malls, shops and bookstores are displaying chocolates, teddy bears and heart shaped cards. Sadly, no one who will buy them for you. You can’t buy them for yourself because the shop assistants will look at you with like you are pathetic.

4) Love-obsessed media
Radio stations play love songs which couples dedicate to each other. You, of course, have no one to dedicate anything to. Radio jockeys dish out advice as if they were love gurus. Morning show hosts harp on about the importance of the holiday. They invite happy couples on their shows who share stories which only add to your misery. Watch any TV channel and you’ll see romantic specials. So, be ready to have lots of tissue handy, along with a big bowl of chocolate ice-cream.

3) The colour red
Red is the colour of the day. It is worn by every other person and if you decide to wear black (because it’s your favourite colour), you are looked at with suspicious eyes and that adds to your embarrassment

2) People in general
Your friends and cousins send you Valentine’s day ‘forwards’ through text message even if your facial expression clearly says you are not interested.

1) Pity
Making plans to hang-out with your friends who have dates on the day is a big mistake. The sight of those couples will make you sick.

Source: The Express Tribune Pakistan

On Valentine's Day, 'Pyaasa' among Time's top romantic movies

Indian director Guru Dutt's fifties' classic musical-drama "Pyaasa" has been listed fifth among Time magazine's Valentine's Day list of top Romantic Movies.

For the Feb 14 day celebrating love and affection between intimate companions, "Time.com has a list - from the songs you need to ease the pain to the movies that will sweep you up in a romance nearly as epic as your own"

In picking up "Pyaasa", the Time asked: "Where did classic Hollywood go when it died?"

And itself answered: "To India, where the nation's pop cinema (Bollywood to you) still attends to antique conventions of family fealty, personal integrity and, of course, all-conquering love."

"In this achingly lush tale of a poet whose one true friend is a prostitute, director-star Guru Dutt creates a musical drama as shimmering and ethereal as the poet's verses, as sultry and earthy as Waheeda Rehman, the 20-year-old actress who became Guru Dutt's mistress and muse," Time said.

"'Pyaasa' means 'thirst'; if this film is your introduction to the glamour and heartbreak of Indian film, it'll leave you parched for more," it said.

Here are the top ten Romantic Movies:

* Son of the Sheik (1926)
* Dodsworth (1936)
* Camille (1936)
* An Affair to Remember (1957)
* Pyaasa (1957)
* Jules and Jim (1962)
* Chungking Express
* Moulin Rouge (2001)
* Talk to Her (2002)
* Brokeback Mountain (2005)

David Beckham plans Valentine's surprise

David Beckham is apparently planning to surprise his wife Victoria for Valentine’s Day.

According to The Mirror, the footballer is to take a four-day break from training with Spurs to fly out to New York, where pregnant Victoria is launching her latest fashion collection.

"He has booked a candlelit restaurant in Manhattan for Monday and is planning on whisking her off to Brooklyn Bridge - the inspiration for their eldest son's name," said a source.

The Beckhams have been married for 11 years, but have reportedly not been together on Valentine's Day for the last seven.

Don your hearts’ colours this Valentine’s Day

Its one day to Valentine’s Day and love already seems to fill the air with its blissful sparks. Be it the dazzling red-colored feminine dress or just a shade of innocence with a blush of desire on its lips, Red is surely ‘in’ this Valentine’s Day.

However, in Pakistan, this love-filled day is not celebrated with as much vigour and freedom yet we can see the sparks of it fluttering hither and thither shyly like a newly born butterfly. Young girls anxious to delight their beloved by donning the vivacious color of love yet the fear of family and society stops them of showing their love, still they manage to hide red dupattas inside their college bags and wear them in their secret love-filled shrine. Such is the charm of Valentine’s Day in Pakistan!

However, according to latest Valentine’s Day trends, it’s not necessary to glam up in the mist of red from head to toe, you can be as simple and fresh as a pearl yet some sparks of romantic red will surely express your love to your beloved. Read on to spend your Valentine’s Day with a perfect dress and perfect mood!

You can combine red color with other colors according to your mood. If you are feeling exotic and sensual combine red with silky grey or creamy beige or black, just highlight the other color with splashes of red. For example you can wear red duppatta or red bangles, red shoes or even just a single swipe of spicy red lipstick on your lips will make you look damn hot and off course perfect for Valentine’s Day.

If you are feeling soft and dainty, don yourself with a perfect shade of white or off-white with the color of love peppered up on tiny places, giving extra oomph and spice to your entire aura. If you are feeling bold and sexy opt for vibrant shades of green or purple to fuse and blend with dazzling red for a defiant and vivacious look. Or of you are bold enough to doll up your self entirely with this enchanting color of love, just do it, but with confidence and power of being able to do what you want!

All in all, the key is to look beautiful and sensational without being over and cheep. Just wear the color that reflects your mood and off course your love to fill your moments of togetherness with the warmth and joy of this day.

Bollywood's dull plans for Valentine's Day

Bollywood is usually associated with love and romance, but this Valentine's Day celebrities are not so enthusiastic about celebrating it and most of them will be busy working.
Most B-town celebs are either out of the city on Feb 14 or working.

This is what they have to say:


Shah Rukh Khan: My Valentine's Day will be in jail since on that day I'll be shooting in a jail in Malaysia for a film.

Deepika Padukone: I would be in Bhopal shooting for Prakash Jha's film "Aarakshan". So basically no special plans for Feb 14.

Aamir Khan: I will be in Berlin Feb 14 since I'm among the jury members for the Berlin film festival. So won't be here to do anything special.

Katrina Kaif: I have no plans for Valentine's Day since I'll be working on Feb 14 like all other days.

Kareena Kapoor: I have no plans and I am not going to gift anything on that particular day.

Priyanka Chopra: I think this whole idea of Valentine's Day is a little over hyped. Why wait for a single day to express your love? Everyday should be like that. So I won't be doing anything special on Valentine's Day.

Arbaaz Khan: I have no plans as of now. Let the day come and will see what can be done.

Arshad Warsi: Every day you have to keep your wife happy. So every day is a Valentine's Day.

Gul Panag: I have no Valentine. I wish I get one very soon. Till then Valentine's Day is just another day for me.

5 most inappropriate Valentine’s Day movies

Anyone can run out and rent a romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts for Valentine’s Day. Anyone can stream the latest innocuous offering from Drew Barrymore — or Jennifer Aniston, or Kate Hudson.

But it requires real guts to sit down with that special fellow or lady in your life and take in one of these massively uncomfortable choices. So here, without any needless flowery language, are the five most inappropriate movies to watch with someone you love on Valentine’s Day:

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966):
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor chew up the scenery and tear each other apart as the boozy and bickering husband and wife George and Martha. In adapting Edward Albee’s painfully honest play, director Mike Nichols burst onto the scene with this, his first feature (“The Graduate” came the following year). He gets up close and personal to provide an intimate view of the carnage. Burton and Taylor start out slyly needling each other in front of their poor, unsuspecting guests, then humiliating each other, and by the end, they’re threatening all-out war. That they were married to each other in real life — for the first time — only added to the intrigue. Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, it won five, including best actress for Taylor’s scathing performance.

“Closer” (2004):
Another from Nichols, this time adapting a London stage production by playwright-screenwriter Patrick Marber. But it’s reminiscent of “Virginia Woolf” for its intense performances and raw emotions. Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen and, yes, Julia Roberts fall giddily in love with each other, but don’t be fooled: This is the furthest thing possible from a date movie. These inordinately beautiful people do extraordinarily ugly things to one another — Portman, playing a stripper in her first truly grown-up role, commits some of her offenses in little more than a G-string — and the way they destroy each other and themselves is both brutal and breathtaking to watch.

“Blue Velvet” (1986):
Nothing is ever what it seems in a David Lynch movie, and that certainly applies to love, as well. So a severed ear found lying in a field is so much more than just a severed ear — it’s the key to a disturbing, underground world of twisted romance. Beneath a veneer of genteel suburbia, Kyle MacLachlan gets sucked into the bizarre lives of Dennis Hopper as a nitrous oxide-addicted criminal, and Isabella Rossellini as his masochistic sexual slave. Voyeurism and depravity, Roy Orbison and Pabst Blue Ribbon all collide hypnotically here. Lynch alternates between glib satire and a much darker, starker exploration of secret fears and desires.

“Natural Born Killers” (1994):
Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis fall in love and kill people, and fall deeper in love and kill more people, and become media darlings in the process. It’s sort of romantic ... in its own way. Oliver Stone isn’t exactly subtle in his satirical exploration of underserved fame and all its trappings; as is his tendency, he throws everything at us, from various film stocks and frenetic camera angles to an editing style that suggests he cut the film in a Cuisinart. But he was onto something back then, and the thirst for juicy scandal continues to go unquenched, no matter how questionable a person’s actions are.

“Fatal Attraction” (1987):
It’s long since become a shorthand for stalking — for crazy, clingy women who are too delusional to take “no” for an answer. All you have to do is mention boiling a bunny and everyone knows what you’re talking about. But back in its day, believe it or not, people actually took this movie seriously as a suspenseful thriller. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture and best actress for Glenn Close’s indelible performance as a spurned, vengeful mistress. If director Adrian Lyne’s sleek, steamy film has taught us anything, it’s that it is so much easier to stick with your husband or wife than indulge in an afternoon tryst. So maybe this is a good movie to see with the one you love after all

Valentine's party fever dying down in India: Top DJ

He is geared to play "Tere mast mast do nain", "Tujhe bhula diya" and other such romantic numbers in the run up to Feb 14, but Suketu, one of India's most popular DJs, says the spirit of Valentine's Day parties is fading away.

"When I started Djing, Valentine's fever was big. In fact, I feel it was bigger than what it is now. I think over the years it has died down slightly," Mumbai-based Suketu told IANS in an e-mail interview.

Suketu, who released his first album "440 Volts" in 2002, says it's no longer a necessity to play music at a Valentine's Day party if you are a known DJ, unlike before.

"It's not important to have a Valentine's Day party. If you are spinning at one, it's great, but if not, it is no big deal and is understandable and very much acceptable, unlike on Christmas eve and New Year's eve," he added.

In fact, he is not going to spin at all on Feb 14.

"I am not playing anywhere on Valentine's Day itself, as it is on a Monday this year and people don't really want to get out and party. They prefer a dinner with their valentine."

Nevertheless, he is already booked to play at two pre-Valentine's Day parties - in Mumbai Feb 12, and a day later in Hyderabad.

What are the songs he plans to play?

"For 2011 Valentine's Day, my favourite songs are 'Tere mast mast do nain' from 'Dabangg', 'Tujhe bhula diya' from 'Anjaana Anjaani' and 'Tonight I'm loving you' by Enrique Iglesias," he said.

Popular for remix hits like "Pyaar zindagi hai", "Bin tere sanam", "Woh lamhe" and "Aadat", Suketu has also worked on a special remix for this Valentine's Day.

"I have worked on a special remix for Valentine's Day. I have re-remixed 'Bin Tere Sanam'. It's been one of my biggest hits and I think it is one of the best love songs ever. So I have re-worked the whole track and am going to be playing it at both my gigs in Mumbai and Hyderabad," he said.

In the music industry for over a decade, Suketu says the only kind of music that gets Indians grooving is Bollywood. He has also observed that the love for slow songs on Valentine's Day parties has been replaced by fast, remix numbers.

"I guess the biggest change that I have noticed in people is the hugely undeniable entry of Bollywood music in all parties. No matter where and who the crowd is, Bollywood gets things grooving.

"Also what I've noticed is earlier the crowd used to like a session of slow dancing when it came to Valentine's parties; now they love only remixed versions.

Suketu likes to keep his own Valentine's Day a quiet affair with his wife.

"Now that I am not doing a gig on Valentine's Day, it's definitely a romantic dinner with my wife, preferably at home as I've been travelling a lot. We will be cooking together as both of us are foodies and very good cooks. Then we will relax over a bottle of wine," he said.

Suketu is also looking forward to some good work in 2011, as he will be remixing the music for "Race 2" among other films. He will also launch his new album soon.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a film so manufactured that you can almost hear the conversation in the studio boardroom as you watch it. Presumably one executive said to another, lets get Pretty Woman director Gary Marshall, construct several multi-generational romantic plot lines that tug at your heart in the most obvious, cheesy way, cram in as many stars for as little time as possible so the budget stays under control and voila, you've got the perfect bonbon for Valentine's day.

The film, written by Katherine Fugate, follows several Los Angeles residents as they stumble in and out of love on Valentine's Day. The intertwining love stories include a florist played by Ashton Kutcher, who has proposed to his girlfriend, played by Jessica Alba, who reluctantly says yes. Meanwhile the florists' best friend, played by Jennifer Garner, is having an affair with a man who is married but she doesn't know that. However the florist does because the man sends out two bouquets from his flower shop -presumably there is only one in the greater Los Angeles area.

Meanwhile, a soldier, played by Julia Roberts is on her way home from Iraq. She strikes up a camaraderie with a fellow passenger played by Bradley Cooper. Another love story is heating up between a mail room man, played by Topher Grace and a secretary, played by Anne Hathaway, only the secretary has to keep excusing herself because she also works as a phone-sex operator. To be demographically safe, the film also includes a little boy-girl friendship and a narrative about an elderly married couple in which the wife, played by Shirly Mclaine, tells her husband about an affair she had many years ago.

You've probably guessed that Valentine's Day is a manically busy film. The narrative cuts back and forth between the twenty-odd characters but there isn't one story here that feels authentic or insightful. It's all Hallmark-style easy emotions. The high star wattage does keep the film coasting for a while. The collective charms of Roberts, Hathaway, Garner, Mclaine, Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Queen Latifah and Taylor Lautner in all his buff glory, keep you engaged and distracted. But eventually, even this wears thin. For me the final straw was an Indian angle that was probably stuck in to provide color, literally. So we have an Indian wedding in which the bride gets cake rubbed on her face like it was a primary school birthday party.

Valentine's Day doesn't have the ambition to be anything more than a plastic, fast-food quality rom-com and that it fulfills admirably. The grapevine buzzes that a sort-of-sequel is already underway for New Year's Eve. See it if you must.

How Should We Commemorate the Valentine's Day

My address here goes especially to the young world. Not that I am ostracizing the older generation, but I am considering the fact that we young people have gotten a lot of energy we sometimes dissipate and orientate towards the wrong direction.

This day for sure should direct our focus towards the things that really matter not to us, but to those who need us so badly. Hey ladies catch your breadths o.k. because I know you really need that fancy silky lingerie you have been yearning for a while now and I am not going to take your sweetheart`s attention off it. You know why? Let me tell you why. I am not going to join those people who think that Valentine`s day is just a farce! My concern though is the meaning you give to it. How you spend it.

I believe that everything on earth has got a purpose for existence, so is this day. But I do not want to think that this day has turned into a multi-million dollar industry, with an overwhelming number of cards, presents and even holidays being sold the world over to celebrate it.

Neither do I want to see it as a plot by multinationals to impose Western culture elsewhere and increase their sales. Because if this is so, it is going to be not far from an abhorrent craze.

In my opinion, this day should not be a day to show off that kind of “I got mine” attitude, giving it a connotation or a tendency to marginalize those who are unattached, forcing them into estrangement.

Why would a couple need a special day to be told they are loved, to be showered gifts, cards, candies and other things? What about the 364 other perfectly good days of the year? Why does the world have to stop on ‘this day of love’ to show love? A day where people show "their loved ones'" the extent and deepness of their feelings for each other by purchasing lame gifts that resemble something "warm and fuzzy" like jewelleries, flowers, chocolates or pitiful stuffed toys, teddy bears etc. I do not need a card or some overpriced flowers from “the heart of my heart” to know that he got the keys that would unlock my heart!

Because trust me babies, he or she might shower you with what will leave you speechless, but his or her heart might be panting for another target. Ladies, permit me to address you most especially because of my gender status. I think it is your birthright that your sweeties show you love every day of the goddamn year.

Why will he not take you to that week-end at the five-star hotel you so much admire on the 20th of June? He could also take you on that shopping spree on the 14th of October! And why not lavish you with the Mark &Spencer jewellery on the 2nd of May?

Has he got just the 14th of February to do something that says “I Love You?” Come on… Just that kiss you get every morning, pretty inexpensive in your mind, but invaluable in terms of love because a true show of love comes from the heart, not the wallet.

And who cares? If you love someone, tell them, show them NOW. No time like the present. Waiting for some day that was labelled Valentine`s Day just conforms to some silly old tradition. How I wish it was called Lionel`s Day or Ruth’s Day or Kwame`s Day, why not Cynthia`s day… give it your name! And on this same day card manufacturers would sell more cards in a slow quarter of the financial year. The event has become a commercial cycle, every year, some of the best Valentine`s Day ideas cost as much as the school fees of an orphan per year, or a dying patient in the hospital who cannot afford his medications!

Fellas, let us not enjoy being brainwashed into buying a load of tat that you don't really want, to give to someone who also doesn't really want it, in some vain attempt to quell your guilt-trip and demonstrate to someone that you care about them.


LOVE IS GIVING, GIVING and GIVING.

Let us bear this in mind that affecting the people who really need us is like building a house on solid ground.

Bringing joy and happiness in the life of each other even in the very modest way matters so much because love has no price. So on this Valentine`s Day, I challenge you to go to www.worldvision.org and see how you can impact the lives of those kids in Haiti who go about naked and hungry in the streets, dining with flies.

Those breast-feeding moms who cannot even afford milk to drink for their babies. Am I even supposed to be telling you this? You all are aware. So the love month I guess is the month of positive actions.

I challenge you to make your life meaningful, by visiting those hospitals, orphanages and those communities that cannot afford for their most basic necessities as potable drinking water. While you are thinking of getting extremely intimate with your lover and maybe unleashing the wolf that is in you on that Valentine`s Day night, first think about those who cannot be what and where you are right now. Those who cannot own what you got.

Think about creating a name for yourself, think about impacting people`s life for the best.

It is February, the month for most of the awards around the globe, what prize are you working towards winning? What prizes are you going to win? Are you loving yourself by taking yourself to the apex of the ladder of life or are you loving yourself by following the masses thus remaining on that same spot year in and year out?

Still in this amorous month of February, the legend, African Hero of all times, Nelson Mandela celebrated his freedom from prison with the loves of his life. How do you relate this to your personal life?

To what extent would you show love, not to some narcissistic guy or some gold digger of a girl that will jilt you as soon as you turn away from them, but to an entire community, to an entire nation, to an entire world?

Think about this, as we celebrate the freedom of the world`s mentor, do not stay back, entangled in a mental prison. Be free, and let your freedom make you soar to unbelievable dimensions and carry your loved ones along on your wings.

I do not even want to talk about the Valentine`s Day that is called Chocolate Day in Ghana - a day for boosting the sales of cocoa products.

I just hope that the money I use to buy chocolate which I take every morning is used properly, channelled to a worthwhile destination, and used for valuable purpose.

Girls, you should take this chocolate issue very seriously, eat it every morning and tell me how it boosts not only your entire shine, but your physique too.

Plus the world is looking forward to curb violence against girls and women through an organization called V-Day. It is all in the love month! Guys, find out how you can make the world a better place like paradise.

Show love to the entire world and more specifically, show love EVERYDAY to that one who is capable of making your breathe stop.

In conclusion, permit me share with you the words of Ashton Kutcher, the American movie producer and actor who in his confession to People Magazine early this February said;

“I hate Valentine`s Day. I think everyday should be a day of romance, then, on Valentine`s Day you should get to tell whoever you hate that you cannot stand them. There will be one day of hating, and 364 days of love.”

I really want to wish a happy Valentine`s Day to the president of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. I wonder how he is going to spend the day - with which of the girls???

Myriads of kisses, Happy Valentine`s Day.


Source: Ruth Tembe Indah

Beyond Valentine's Day...Love Me Every Second

Well, it is that time of the year again, when my ears get tired with the insistence of the daily over-hyped mantra – Happy Valentine`s Day.
I should have waited until the 14th of February before I dropped this article. But I deemed it necessary to share some thoughts with you.

For those so curious to read this I suggest you refrain from judging, or accusing me of being biased. Not that I am single or not single, but just that I got this knack for seeing things with what I call my “eighth eye” before resolving to doing it.

So if you are ready to ride with me, then grab a flute of Moet & Chandon (my favorite champagne) or a glass of your favorite wine, and let`s go. What?... Oh! You don`t take alcohol? Ok. Then I recommend some natural fruit juice, Guava juice is the best.

THE ORIGIN OF VALENTINE'S DAY...WHO THE HELL IS ST.VALENTINE?

I have conducted a research on the origin of this St. Valentine`s Day. I am one of those people who never want to stick with the herd, or one of those who do not want to feel like they are being manoeuvred by some folks who think they can feed our minds with whatever stuff they want to feed our minds with.

Note that this is far from the fact that I want to make some guys feel daunted. But I think none of us should get trapped into acting under coercion. Amidst the numerous stories surrounding this day, I think the origin of Valentine`s Day is still very misty.

Stand forth, let us together get some answers and clear out this clutter because I for one cannot put up with this ambiguity any longer. What is the origin of Valentine`s day? Is this day worth commemorating? How should we and why should we celebrate it?
First stop; let us probe into the various stories that define the origin of this day.

Who was Valentine? This question is not an easy one to answer. Depending on which source you refer to, you might find one author making the case that there were two different men named Valentine whose lives were mixed together to form one legend, and another arguing that two different legends arose about the same man.

Even still another author might say that there were three men named Valentine. Here are other synopses of different stories...

Valentine as a young man, though not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, helped Christians during a time of persecution. He was caught and put in jail, became a believer there and was clubbed to death for this on February 14, 269. While in prison he is said to have sent messages to friends saying, "Remember your Valentine" and "I love you". It is also said that Valentine was a priest that secretly married couples, defying the law of Emperor Claudius who temporarily forbade marriages.

Valentine was imprisoned for his faithfulness to Jesus and refusing to worship pagan gods. Making friends with the jailer’s daughter, he is said to have seen her healed through prayer, and on the date of his execution (Feb. 14th) he is said to written her a note signed "Your Valentine".

On February 14 it was also believed that the young boys and girls of the villages would write down the names of every girl and place these names in a jar of which each young man would have to draw a name of a girl and this particular maiden would be their partner for the duration of the festival. Sometimes these parings would last a year and end up in marriage.

Another Interesting origin is that St Valentine was the patron Saint of Epilepsy - reason was that he was supposedly a sufferer and took a keen interest in those who suffered from this affliction and also that those who suffered this disease were suffering from Valentine's sickness. (Can you believe this?)

St Valentine's Day has roots in several different legends that have found their way to us through the ages. But whatever the odd mixture of origins, St Valentine's Day is now a day of romance, a day for sweethearts. It is the day that you show your friend or loved one that you care. But do you know what? I will not even want to insist on grasping some more knowledge about the origin of this day, because I think that now that we are all into it, insisting on getting the exact meaning of the day is derisory.

Of course, love is the farthest reaching dream and I dare to say the most relevant, most evidential, most powerful dream of all. At some point in all our lives, we have known love, be it filial or erotic. We either showed love, or we have been loved.

Love is the dream that is real, even when we have experienced the world of it, the end of it, the betrayal of it; it is evident that love remains inside of everything. A dream that comes true, it wants to exist, it does exist, it is all around us all the time.

Sandra Bullock's V-Day disaster!

Actress Sandra Bullock has revealed how her grooming preparations for Valentine’s Day ended up in disaster.

The Blind Side star explained how a failed attempt to surprise her motorcycle enthusiast husband Jesse James left her rolling in pain.

"I decided for Valentine''s Day I would do a special hair thing. I wanted to try to create a pink heart shape with my lower hair. It was painful,” the Daily Telegraph quoted her as telling OK! magazine.

"You had to bleach it first. There''s something about bleach that feels like acid. Then I had to shave it. I was in so much pain, but I kept going and put the pink dye on and it went the wrong colour," she added.