One day, during a morning bus trip from Cheswick High to Oxford Street, I witnessed a fracas between a British Utility Worker and few youths who were trying to make it a day. I heard the choicest of Cockney abuses and their quintessence translation in English for the first time. Those were as innovative as you come across in any vegetable market back home.
And after a few weeks of my arrival, almost every shop began to turn pink.

My white classmates were talking about the forthcoming Valentine’s Day. As I was a green horn, I listened attentively to their discussion to enhance my general knowledge. The British girls were expecting several gifts from their known friends and unknown admirers. There was secrecy around the gift if the girl was unmarried. They didn’t know the sender till the last moment. The married ladies would get gifts from their husbands, known friends, relatives and also from some unknown admirers. The air was filled with love, respect and admiration. It was totally different from what I saw in a Delhi parks on Valentine’s Day. I am not a kill-joy but my parents had given me certain values that were with me in the foreign shores also. I am neither Muthali nor Baba Ramdev, but I know my body is a temple and a gift of God. I have no right to abuse it in the name of pleasure. What a misuse and mockery of the liberty and helplessness of parents the new generation is making today will come home to roost when they would themselves enter their forties and fifties - not now. I really don’t know what they know about the Saint in whose name this is celebrated. Just to share with those who want to refresh or learn.

In West they are not sure if there was one or many Saint Valentines. It is still a mystery. It is generally believed that he was a Roman who had refused to give up his Christian faith. Some say he was a temple priest who was jailed for defiance during the rule of Claudius the Goth II.

The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in ‘The Nuremberg Chronicle’, a great illustrated book printed in 1493. He was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome. He was arrested and imprisoned. But his story took a 180 degree turn here. The emperor took a liking of his prisoner and began to show kindness towards him. The Saint misread the situation. He went all out to coax and cajole to convert his master to Christianity. That was a great strategic error. The emperor was so irritated and infuriated with his advances that he ordered the priest to be condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned. As if that was not enough, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate.

Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole in his memory. The greatest parts of his relics are now in the church of St Praxedes. His name is celebrated as that of an illustrious martyr in the sacramentary of St Gregory, the Roman Missal of Thomasius.

Saints are saints and they are always busy in healing the suffering of mankind. They perform miracles when they are alive and intercede after death. According to one legend, while awaiting his execution, St Valentine restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter, signing it, "From your Valentine."

For those who believe in him, he is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epileptics, fainting sick, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers and young people.