Take a look: "Who said it was only a boy/girl thing? It can be anyone you are fond of, and would like to remember or reconnect with" OR "it is all about young couples (read married); this is the day to have romantic dinners and for exchanging gifts and what's more, with no explanations or comments from the family!" OR, "it is NOT a boy /girl thing, and we need a day when girls can also take the initiative!"
Well what do you know!

It all but quite swept away any of my consumer-related anxieties! We, of course have distant memories of our very own Vasantotsav... but one might have to go back to Kalidas to revive that, so why not Valentine and Cupid right here, right now—rather than our very much more interesting myth of Kamdev and Rati. We still have the Saraswati Poojan though on Vasant Panchami, which would have come and gone by the time you read this.

We have just put a lot of celebration behind us along with the first month of 2007, but fear not—yet more is upon us, we being what we are—the celebrating Indians. There is never a let up, not that I am complaining, except for the fallout of yet more complicated traffic snarls and more hilariously ridiculous marketing tactics surfacing to dupe the by now quite savvy consumers. We as consumers have at last come of age, as far as market tactics go. One often hears people sharing the latest, obviously senseless ad lingo with each other...the import being 'what do they take us for?’ meaning they were not going to be a soft target for any hype by any product ad.

The Valentine's Day mania is building up, nonetheless, as the ads begin to appear in red and pink hearts, all over the city. The price of red roses is all set to go through the roof, and soon useless knick-knacks will be sold for astronomical prices. Syrupy cards will make an appearance in every Archie's gallery and we'll celebrate again. There will be the usual protests and processions against the cultural decline of young Indians, and the young ones, oblivious of all disapproval, will gift chocolates and other mish-mash to each other. Yet some more young people I spoke to, turned their noses at the propensity of down-market bahenjis and bhai sahebs to ape the West. They couldn't be seen dead wearing their hearts on their sleeves—just no way. For them it was all market noise and they were not paying heed to the racket. Yet who can resist being drawn into celebrations? So Enjoy!

In this issue we bring you some new columns and introduce some new concepts. We have worked on changing the look from cover to cover. We will continue to try and give you a more interesting mix of reading material, and will appreciate suggestions and/or response, looking forward to a lively interaction with our readers. We are also introducing a ‘You write to me...’ page. Do feel free to address anything you need to share with me and I'll be happy to respond.