MUCH ado about LOVE

* LOVE GRUB: The Valentine celebrations started almost a week back at the Taj Chandigarh with their restaurants and Lava Bar rolling out the red carpet. While the menus and the buffet boasted of dishes with names suggestive of sweet emotions,all ladies visiting the restaurants are being presented a red rose on departure during the festivity week. As for the D-day or V-day in this case,Cafe17 will roll out a fine five course meal over candlelight with sparkling wine and strawberries along with a surprise gift for the ladies. Lava will offer a ‘Go Purple’ theme with muted purple lighting,DJ Marc,gold and pearl martinis and more. Black Lotus,the Oriental restaurant will recreate the Chinese romantic magic with soft numbers while Dera will offer a royal evening set in a backdrop of old romantic classics. The banquet will host a live international band and a DJ from Goa. Elsewhere,Khyber in Sector 35 is going all out to woo you in their own unique ‘Indian’ way. Couples can dig into strawberry kebabs topped with chocolate followed by a succulent rose flavoured chicken garnished with fresh rose petals and a heavenly ‘Rice Conde’. Given the mushy month,there is a vast array of delicacies to choose from like ‘Potion of love’ (Strawberry flavoured margarita) to strawberry butter milk to honey strawberry kheer to rose flavoured cottage cheese. Come Valentine’s eve and Montblanc Chandigarh will host a special event to pamper their patrons. With Taj’s poolside as the venue,a specially selected menu and a live band in attendance,Montblanc’s set to make the evening memorable. “We will also showcase various gifting options and special promotions for Valentines on February 12,” informed boutique manager Anaheeta Mehra.

* LOVE SHINES: There’s nothing to match the glow on your lady love’s face as you slip on a diamond. Realising the potential of the rock when it comes to matters of love,brands are set to offer special discounts and deals. Tanishq has on offer diamond pendants starting at Rs 999 themed around Valentine’s Day. As Sandeep Kulhalli,Vice President,Tanishq puts it,“Diamonds have always been the first choice when it comes to gifting something special. The rationale behind our new collection is to provide customers with options,in terms of affordability,designs and quality in diamond jewellery and to portray diamonds as inexpensive as well as the best Valentine gift.” Keeping in line with that thought is Divine Solitaires,a fast growing diamond brand which has introduced a pattern of ‘Hearts and Arrows’ for the first time in India. “A pattern of Hearts & Arrows represents proof of precision cutting with extraordinary polish and symmetry in a diamond,” informs Jignesh Mehta,Managing Director,Divine Solitaires. To view the pattern,the ‘Hearts and Arrows’ solitaires come with a take-away loupe. So much for love!

* GOODIE BASKET: Choosing the right gift and seeing a gleeful smile on your beloved’s face is probably the most cherished feeling on V-Day. If you are still hunting for a gift,here’s help. Titan has going a ‘LOL – Loaded with Love’ offer where you can ‘buy one and get one free’ on select Titan watches. There’s also a 20 percent to 40 percent off on select Titan and Fastrack watches and on entire range of Fastrack eyegear and Tommy Hilfiger watches. Additionally,one can avail special dining and movie vouchers on every purchase. Then there are GiftMate vouchers that offer flexibility and choice. One can shop from over 3000 online merchants,use it in varying denominations and ways. Also offering a Valentine-special is Lava International with their new handset ‘ARC 02’. Targeted at the young and restless,the phone offers hassle-free browsing with wireless FM with a feature that customers can record the FM programmes or any song and then they can set it as their ringtone. All for just Rs 1,990. You can also shop for your Valentine at Maspar which has introduced a V-Day appropriate collection created exclusively to revive the romance in your home. The collection offers heart-shaped cushion covers with rose prints and embroidery; photo frames and more. The collection is available in luscious reds,pink and gold with prices starting at Rs 250.

* DRESS CIRCLE: Timed with V-day is Madame’s ‘Cupid is stupid’ collection. With the colour red as the theme,the collection offers 12 cool custom-made designs with personalized messages on the T-shirts. All designs contain romantic messages that are conveyed in graphic or text format. Priced in the range of Rs 445 to Rs 525. The collection is also available online at http://www.madameonline.com/cupid. Elsewhere,it’s a carnival of love at Koutons that’s offering a flat 80 percent off on all accessories on Valentine’s. “Accessories have emerged as popular Valentine’s Day gifts. Recognizing this,we decided to provide a range for both men and women especially for this purpose,” informs Balvinder Singh Ahluwalia,President,Koutons Retail India. One can choose from clutches,handbags,belts,mufflers,ties etc. For those looking for a designer spread,Soh Koh,the multi-designer outlet has unveiled its ‘Valentine Collection’ with apparels by Cue,Rimi Nayak,Arshiya and Gaurav & Ritika in the lineup. Apart from the regular Red,this collection offers different shades of blue,black and pink. “Valentine is a special day and we wanted to go all out too. We collaborated with select designers and asked them to offer some special stuff specially for the Valentine Week,” mentions Aarti Gupta of Soh Koh who also lists the discount of 30 percent off for the Valentine week.