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Valentine’s Day

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“Acceptance is the key to happiness.”


That’s some really sound advice, courtesy my astute grandmother. When I received these wise words of wisdom, I stowed them away in my sub-conscious mind. But with Valentine’s Day lurking around the corner, I see the perfect opportunity to employ them.

Another Valentine’s Day is going to come and go, and I’m going to be as single as a hydrogen atom, awaiting another of its kind to come along. Find the reference amusing? Pause and look at your own life for a minute, buddy. It probably is just as pathetically hilarious as mine.

But experience is a great teacher. And my several years of battling loneliness on the damned fourteenth day of February have taught me to take solitude in my stride. So while the couples out there are busy making fluffy plans, I’ve figured out an illustrious one for myself: Binging on dessert and romantic movies, simultaneously and harmoniously, in enviable synchronisation.

If this Valentine’s Day, you are a) single or b) too lazy to go out or c) too prudish to give in to V-day clichés, listen to grandma and be the master of your own happiness. Take the following cues and just fag out in the luxury of a warm bed, good food and lots of cinematic romance. Basically, give in to some ‘khud-khushi’, minus rat poison, ceiling fans and sharp, incisive instruments.

Top 5 Romantic Movies to binge-watch this Valentine’s Day:

1.Made of Honor

Theme: Best Friends fall in love, eventually!
For anyone who has ever loved their best friend, this one will reaffirm your faith in your friendship and make you believe that perhaps, some day, the two of you will land up together. Hope is the best companion a lone heart needs on Vday. This one will surely give you optimistic feels.
Also try: Love, Rosie and Valentine’s Day
For Bolly fans: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

Made of Honor
Made of Honor

2. Titanic
Theme: Mammoth sacrifice for soulmate
Some movies are classics. And classics are hard to let go off. Titanic is a movie that reverberates with all generations. Sacrifice has always been the cornerstone of true love. Jack and Rose do absolute justice to the portrayal of this concept. A must watch, even if for the hundredth time!
Also try: Fault in Our Stars and The Notebook
For Bolly fans: Veer-Zaara

Titanic
Titanic

3. My Best Friend’s Wedding

Sometimes, love is unrequited. And things become even worse when your harbour unreciprocated feelings for your best friend. But if you truly love your best friend, then you’ll find your happiness in theirs. Selfless love too is rewarding and gratifying.
Also try: 500 Days of Summer and Casablanca
For Bolly fans: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

My Best Friend's Wedding
My Best Friend’s Wedding

4.Love Story

Based on Eric Segal’s classic novel of the same name, this one, although old, is sure to warm the cockles of your heart. Watch out for heavy sentiments, though (“Love means never having to say you’re sorry”). Also, spoiler alert: not all love stories have a happy ending.
Also try: A Walk to Remember, Dear John and The Last Song
For Bolly Fans: Kal Ho Na Ho

Love Story
Love Story

5.Sleepless in Seattle

Tom Hanks is like the SRK of Hollywood: The undisputed king of romance. Need I say more?
Also try: You’ve got mail and Cast Away
For Bolly Fans: DDLJ, Main Hoon Na, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and any and every SRK movie ever made

Sleepless In Seattle
Sleepless In Seattle

Some more suggestions: Love Actually, Letters to Juliet, Nights at Rodanthe, One Fine Day, The Last Kiss, Breakfast at Tiffany, Becoming Jane and Me Before You.

Write in with your recommendations! I would love to hear from you.

Image Credits: Pinterest, Joblo.com, hollywood.com, ats.edu.mx, pinterest.com, parkcircus.com

 

Kriti Sharma

[email protected]

In a shock to the moral policing groups who often spread hooliganism in the name of protecting the culture and religion of the country, the University of Delhi has decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day in North Campus this year. Surprisingly, the various departments of the University were accommodative of the planning for the celebration. “It is a day for young people, we don’t have any business in there”, said one Professor, who was a member of the committee which gave the final go-ahead for the event.

The celebrations which will be held at the Vice Chancellor lawns, a popular hangout spot for young couples will include heart-shaped balloons and rose petal showers in half hour intervals from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Since the event is not related to any academic work, the officials in the finance department are working on how to arrange funds for the event. “We have approached a couple of companies. They have been positive”, said one official on conditions of anonymity. Another official said that “Archies has even agreed to sponsor the entire event so it won’t be a problem.”

As an elaborate plan to celebrate this occasion, the University has planned to ask its constituent colleges to celebrate the occasion in their respective campuses. A notification will be issued to them asking them to mark a tree in their campus and hold functions around it, like the popular ‘V Tree Puja’ held in Hindu College. “We are ready to help in every way possible if DU wants to spread this culture to other colleges” said one of the members of the Hindu hostel team which plans on celebrating ‘V Tree Puja’ this year too.

“The main motive of the event is to waive the rumors that saffronization has spread in our academic spaces” said another faculty member who was a member of a Left party during his student days. Throwing a barb on the ruling party, he said that “universities were progressive and free spaces, and they shall remain so irrespective of the party in power.”

However, the event has not gone down well with the National Saffron Vidyarthi Association, which represents the right-wing government in university politics. “We will organise a day-long protest to oppose such spread of western ideas which harm our national culture”, said a member of the association.

 

(Disclaimer: Bazinga is a column of believably fake news that you should enjoy, strictly not to be believed!)

Image Credits: DU Beat

 

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

Disclaimer: Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost-believable fake news!

With February’s arrival, love has started to fill the air. Going with the festive cheer, DU Beat proudly announces the launch of its new column titled: ‘DUB Ne Bana Di Jodi’. As clear from the name itself, the column will be all about match making among DU Beat’s avid readers.

The weekly column would involve the declaration of a theme on which the interested candidates would be required to send in their views along with personal information, dating preferences (we’re LGBT friendly!) and a photo, the same one that happens to be on their Adhaar cards ( for the sake of uniformity).

The entries shall be evaluated by the hard working DU Beat team on basis of knowledge, writing skills, spontaneity, grammar and wit. The short listed candidates shall be further matched by the team on basis of their expressed views. Once you’re matched with a potential candidate, the date shall be planned at exclusive and utterly romantic locations such as the Lodhi Gardens, Central Park (CP) and Delhi Metro stations on a mutually agreed date and time.

Not only does DU Beat intend to help you find a date, but our talented photographers shall also accompany you to capture each moment for you. Moreover, our dedicated HR team members shall stick along to manage issues during the date and counsel/console the parties in case things don’t work out.

If  the matched couples complete 6 months together, they shall get a golden opportunity to attend the DU Beat weekly meetings. If a couple sticks together for a year, they shall get an option to join the DU Beat team and also win a DVD collection of movies like Alone, Happy New Year, Tevar, Jai Ho and other such path breaking releases to watch together and to deepen their bond.

The topic for this week is: ‘Should Bajrang Dal be useful for once?’ Send in your entries at [email protected] latest by February 12th, 2015. Hope we help find you some love!

Disclaimer: At Bazinga, we’re just kidding; everything’s fair in war and in ‘love’ after all.

Featured image illustrated by: Suhasini Sharma for DU Beat.

 

Hindu College known for its special Valentine’s Day celebration attracted a huge crowd this year as well for the Virgin tree puja. The oldest member of Hindu College, the Virgin tree or the V-tree was decorated by the hostellers of the college with balloons and water-filled condoms and donned with posters of Deepika Padukone who was chosen as the Damdami Mata this year. “Deepika has been really famous this year and given several hit movies. It was a unanimous decision by most of the hostel members” says a hostel student of Hindu.

The college sought to cut down on the crowd this valentine’s day by allowing only the college students in for the celebration and even though the rainy weather on 14th did pose a lot of hindrance for the students they still carried on with the “puja” with the same level of enthusiasm as they would have on a sunny day. The role of the pundit for this year was played by Imtiaz, a first year Chemistry (Hons.) student and Hostel Mr. Fresher for 2013 as he was carried from the hostel to the virgin tree on the shoulders of his fellow hostellers in proper pundit attire with dhol playing as their background score.

The puja was held ceremoniously as the students sang the famous Damdami Mata aarti which goes something like this:

“Jai damdami Mata, Maiya jai damdami mata
Tumko dinbhar dekhun -2
Raat bhar so nahi pata
Maiya jai damdami mata…”

As the aarti came to an end, the water filled condoms were thrown so that the “Holy water” could reach everyone. Further, prashad was distributed and even a cake was cut this year so that students, as the legend goes, lose their virginity in the coming six months or at least get into a relationship.

While some might call it an act of desperation and insanity, the hostel students call it tradition. “It is a tradition that has been passed on from generations now and there is nothing wrong with it. We are not objectifying women and the condoms are used for AIDS awareness and not as an act of desperation and vulgarity” says another hostel student as he dances off to the beat of the dhol.

The day of love, like everything else, means different things to different people – some enjoy it all by themselves, some go the movies and dinner with their significant other, and yet some feel entirely nauseated by the public display of affection and sheer commoditization of feelings. Geez, you don’t need to talk about your love life 24/7, nor do you need expensive life sized stuffed toys screaming ‘I love you’ or things to that effect. What you need is for someone to actually be there for you when your test results aren’t so good and you’ve had a fight with your folks and the world is not really a happy place. Regardless, on the 14th of February every year, likeminded people and I spot a few of these random annoying things and attempt to reform the idea of love:

1. Coffee shops and restaurants are all ridiculously full

It’s true, Valentine’s is one day of the year where you simply cannot sit at your regular coffee shop and enjoy some food and beverage with your favourite book without looking like a loner craving for love.

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2. All the malls, clothing stores and even bookshops have random hearts sketched on their doors

No, that is not going to tempt me or my partner to go in there and buy something we can’t afford to please each other. We’re good, really. Thanks for trying so hard.

3. Everything seems to have been painted red or pink

With advertising becoming this huge industry that impacts our cognitive abilities majorly, you almost feel like advertisers want you to believe that love only comes in certain shades. Cute boy on your right, but oh, he’s wearing blue? Nah. Not my Valentine.

images

4. But then there are also those annoying fundamentalists who can’t deal with people choosing their partners

We all know these people. Many of us know them personally, and it’s not very nice. I don’t like how love is reduced to expensive gifts, but I think what’s really worth hating is the fact that our society still sees love as a ‘western concept’ unless mediated by the institution of the family and most people don’t think young people have the right to choose their own partners.

Sherlock

5.  There are also creepy conversations everyone has to go through that begin with ‘So, who’s your valentine?’

GODDAMNIT, why should I even answer that?

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6. Your parents become increasingly suspicious when you say you’re going out

No mom, it’s not what you think. I actually have a life.

makegoodchoices

7. You will not be able to stop yourself from overhearing the lovers on the next table

“You are the love of my life…I’ve fallen for you…Your eyes reflect the beauty of your soul” Some of these will make you laugh, so I have to admit it’s worth it sometimes.

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I don’t mean to sound heartless, but shouldn’t everyday be a day to love, count your blessings and enjoy the lovely person that your partner is? And even if this one day seems appropriate, is it really worth all the media brainwashing? Why only one way to celebrate? This Valentine’s, do something different with your partner – something you’ll both enjoy and not something you’re made to believe you’ll enjoy.

Image courtesy: Tumblr and gifsoup.com