Friends are the best confidants, parents can be a little too conservative, moms are still a girl’s best friend, sex education in school is not a norm and SMS and chat is the best way to get your feelings across—half-a-dozen teenagers disclosed all this and more over pizza and cola. Divya, Avinash and Ayush, all 15, are appearing for their class X board exams and say V-Day preparations are at an all-time low. Utkarsh, Ishita and Ambika, all 14, are not happy about the big day falling on a Saturday. “Valentine’s Day is most fun when it falls on a weekday,” says Utkarsh. Edited excerpts:
What do you think about Valentine’s Day? Are you excited?
Ambika: Kids in my class plan for it big time.
Divya: Some of my classmates are making cards—5ft-long cards, with hearts,
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chocolates, gifts like big teddy bears holding red hearts. Actually, only boys do all this stuff.
Avinash: That’s true. In my class boys do this, but this time we are in class X and Valentine’s Day is falling during prep holidays, so the fervour is less. Last year all the boys who had girlfriends spent the day walking with them, talking to them.
What do the teachers say when they see girls and boys together on Valentine’s Day?
Ayush: Every teacher knows what is happening but they don’t say anything.
Are you allowed to exchange gifts at school?
Ayush:We don’t carry the gifts in our hands. We hide them in our bags or our friends hide them for us.
Ambika: The teachers do big time checking of our bags and desks before and on Valentine’s Day. They even check our cars.
And if you are caught with gifts…
Ambika: Well, the teacher confiscates the gifts in our school.
Ayush:Not in our school. They don’t say anything. We tell them that we have got it for our girlfriend(s) and request them to let us keep it. They ask us to keep them inside and not flaunt the gifts.
Divya: Even in our school, teachers are quite sweet about it.
Utkarsh: In our school, if the teachers take away the gifts, they give them back at the end of the day. It depends from teacher to teacher really.
Ayush: I got caught once with a gift but I told the teacher it was for my girlfriend. She told me to keep it inside and give it to my girlfriend after school. I had asked my friend to buy the gift. And no, I did not ask my parents for the money. I saved up my pocket money.
Have any of you boys received a gift on Valentine’s Day?
Utkarsh:Yeah. Last year I got a card, and chocolates. But I did not think I was going to get a gift. It was a surprise. I knew that she was keen on me, but I did not know she really liked me. It was a declaration, one that embarrassed me but also made me happy.
Is Valentine’s Day overrated, just a lot of hype, or is it a serious day for teenagers?
Ambika: It is a good way for boys and girls to interact.