A lot of love is in air on Valentine’s Day. To have a good and healthy relationship I would like to handle the situation by keeping myself clam because she is mine after all. The more pain I give her the more I will suffer. She is everything to me.

— Abhinay Jayaswal, New Baneshwor

It’s been three years since we became committed to each other. All through these years we have faced lots of issues. Despite the fact that his parents are against us, we have continued our relationship. We are independent enough to take our decision, but how can we deceive our parents? At one point he was so disturbed that he let go of me. But I always had an instinct that he would come back to me, it was then when I developed patience. Later my instinct did come true. The trust I had for him was intact that made our bond stronger. Thus for me commitment is all about trust, and it’s the root to any relationship. To date we fear about losing one another but we don’t dwell on it.

— Lion Queen, A

One doesn’t need to celebrate Valentine’s Day to express love because I love you everyday. There is no need to exchange gift and flowers because my heart is there for you as the best gift.

Needless to say, everyone is looking for Mr Right or Ms Right. But it doesn’t work with the snap of your finger. We, therefore, need to compromise.

We are newly married couple and she resumed her studies after marriage. Though we are away from each other the root of our love is immensely great. With great difficulty we have compromised to sacrifice lovely moment of staying together. But each and every moment my love is growing towards her. For me sacrifice and commitment are the biggest gifts for your love to coexist in a perfect harmony. We stop arguing. We relax. We adjust. Doing so is not easy but it is important for a successful relationship. Compromise, commitment, and sacrifice are essential elements beside gifts, flowers and candle light dinner.

— Rujan Kayastha

It’s been almost eight years since our relationship. We have been in love forever. I just don’t find him like my boyfriend but my first love, my best friend, and my soulmate. We still go through hell of fights and break-ups. And our way to get back together is always to meet for returning stuff like pen drive, money, books. Every fight makes our relation stronger. Speaking of compromise we both talk about the stuff we don’t like about each other and make things better. Through this I just want to remind him that I will love him for the rest of my life.

— Anonymous

We were school batchmates unaware of one another. It has been around six years since we became good friends. Now it’s my fourth Valentine’s Day with him though we are thousand miles away from each other. Lovers find this day as an opportunity to show the best of self, as how much they love their partner. Unlike them, this is the day I miss him the most and also the day when words fall short. I text him but that’s not enough. It’s impossible for him to be here on this month or day, but I accept this fact. I let go off the things consoling myself that every other day is my Valentine’s Day.

— Gurung AN

If one has good friends you don’t need lovers for the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Friends like Rishikesh and Chandrashekhar are far better than a girlfriend. I can share each and every secret with them. They are my problem solvers. I wish they were in Kathmandu on this day.

— Ravikant Yadav, Majhariya -06, Bara

Love is a wonderful thing to experience and to feel in this world. No one can escape from this amazing feeling. It’s a feeling that keeps you alive and gives you enthusiasm to live each day with joy. I met this guy nearly seven months ago. From the day I met him, I feel like I am living my life meaningfully. He has made my life valuable and always makes me feel precious. It’s our first Valentine’s Day and I am going to miss him so much on this day. But at the same time I would like to convey him the message that though we are far from each other, we are close. It’s difficult to be in a long distance relationship. This nonetheless is a test for both of us, test of our trust and the compromises we have made so far. I trust him and I have faith in him that we will be united one day. That day is not so far because the thought of being with him tomorrow gives me the strength to get through today.

— Anu Pariyar, Pepsicola, Kathmandu

Love is one of the most precious gifts that God has given a person — it can be between mum and son, brother and sister and so on. But people of 21st Century think that love is only attraction between opposite sex. And they think that only Valentine’s Day is the day of expressing love. I know I’m also the part of this world, but I think if there is love, then there is no need of a particular day. It can be expressed any time

and anywhere.

— Anonymous

Valentine’s Day is a special day for two loving souls. I think real love is not based on romance, outing, long drives, gifts, candle light dinner or long conversations. It’s based on respect, compromise, care and trust between two loving souls. I am not in a relationship. I know the feeling of love though. If we believe in our partner, care about him/her, and share feelings, the relation becomes strong. I don’t think real lover waits for a day to express his/her love. Love is an eternal feeling. If we are in a relationship we have to

be honest.

— Jasmin Khanal, Chabahil, Kathmandu

Relationship is a positive and personal engagement between two different individuals. If the association between these two individuals is based on sharing, caring and cooperation of numerous pain and gains in life; there is no need for any artificial manifestation and celebrations like Valentine’s Day in our life to express that there is true love. In this rapidly commercialising globe, society has been looking for new opportunities to make potential product of any aspect of human emotions as a marketable product. Valentine’s Day is one such commercial agenda of the global market that has been packaged from the West to the entire planet. Four or five decades back when Valentine’s Day was not as popular as it is today, human emotion and relationship were as strong and as positive as it is in this present day of abject commercialism, advertisement and aggressive market economy.

— Saikat Kumar Basu, Lethbridge AB, Canada

Any type of relationship requires compromise in order to keep it intact. As far as my commitment regarding my relationship with my loving and caring ones is concerned, I wholeheartedly give importance to my relationships with my mother and friends. I help my close ones relentlessly for the sake of bilateral relationship but never expect something from them in return.

Recently, one of my close friends, Annu who is staying in Kathmandu, requested me to search and provide her some helpful tips to reduce obesity without Google’s help. Thus, I spent several days and nights searching various newspaper articles and shared those information with her. Nowadays, she says that her health is in the course of improvement day-by- day. She thanked me for my selfless and relentless effort to curb her problem. She regards this as my commitment in our healthy relationship as true friends.

— Sanjog Karki, Tansen-6, Basantapur, Palpa

‘Celebrating Valentine’s Day is such a cliche’. I’ve heard (or overheard) people quote this statement quite often. Well, I beg to differ. Celebration on any occasion is vital. Celebration increases the level of happiness, whether it be of life or love. Honestly, I haven’t been hit by Cupid’s arrow except for crushing over Justin Timberlake. However, I have a lot to share regarding commitments and compromises having dealt with umpteen number of people who’ve encountered problems relevant to these aspects in their relationships.

First, it’d be downright immoral to indulge in a relationship without any intention of being committed. Love is analogous to cruising in an endless ocean. The journey seems insanely beautiful. It’s likely that an individual isn’t aware of the obstacles and the uncertainties that shall be offered by life. That’s when commitment plays a vital role. To love someone requires an ardent desire and strenuous effort to fight for the love and save the relationship. If major PDA and exchanging gifts would suffice then things would be simply easy.

— Puzan Reezal(Eva), Kathmandu

Couples should always compromise to keep their relationship healthy. Celebration aside, couple should always give their 100 per cent to continue their relation. I was in Class IX while he was in Class X. At such a young age we both fell in love with each other. When I remember those days I get butterflies in my stomach. And now the good news is that our relationship continues. This Valentine’s Day, we complete our four years together as a couple. And I slightly know how new relation gets stronger than previous. Without trust bond fades away.

— Aditi Shrestha, Buddhanagar, Kathmandu

Valentine’s Day comes and goes but the thing is I haven’t fallen in love with anyone to date. The term love is hard to express and difficult to define. However, if we follow the current trends of love, relationship, there might not be intimacy between the lovers as we often hear the news that someone in a relationship for five years has broken-up due to mistrust.

But one thing is clear that, there will be peace, harmony, courage and never ending passion where is true love. One should try to understand your loved one’s feeling.

— Saroj Wagle, Dumarwana, Bara

For me small things matter a lot in love. It seems beautiful if you make things happen for your partner rather than just promise and become unable to fulfil. The important thing is you should make them feel like you care.

Gifts, somehow help to keep an emotional attachment in your affinity but not always. It does not work if you don’t have a good time to share with your partner.

— Diwas Dhakal, Phaparthum-4, Syangja

It is said that love is a base for survival. Life becomes colourful in your beloved’s presence. Love is a kind of emotion that everybody has, even animals. Love, affection and respect are synonyms of love.

We celebrate Valentine’s Day as the day of love. It has become a culture for all. Every lover has a special day for expressing love to each other. I agree that it makes the relationship strong.

But love for a day can’t pass for the whole life. Love is reflected by how much lovers are loyal, supportive, and careful with each other. So, every day should be Valentine’s Day.

— Sunita Gharti Magar, Koteshwor

Whole world is running after money not knowing there are things money can’t buy. Money can’t buy love, happiness, pleasure et cetera. We took solemn oath in presence of fire to be together for rest of our lives. I know there are ups and downs in every relationship but one must not let go. Instead one should stick to the words given to your partner, because love is a wonderful feeling not everyone gets chance to know. So, be committed by feeling the luckiest. We must compromise with every situation that comes our way.

— Pratibha Bhandari

Power of leaving and recovering from any pain is love. As Valentine’s Day is a day of lovers this is an evidence that love is only the thing which neither can be bought nor stolen. I believe exchanging gifts, flowers or having candle light dinner is not a way to show love but making some one feel that they are a part of our lives is.

— Ruby Shrestha - 6, Kathmandu