In fact, this year, with media exposure of the event passing the critical mass, the industries most anxious to promote the hysteria around the day were themselves taken aback by the responseof youngsters, specially in Delhi. Says Vijayant Chhabra, marketing manager of Archies cards in the city: "The capital saw a five-fold increase in normal sales on St Valentine's Day. And sales of Valentine cards were more than double last year's. Some of our outlets even ran out of stock." This year the company had 183 card designs reserved for Valentine's Day alone. This, not counting the Gibson and Paper Rose cards, American companies with whom Archies has a tie-up. They pushed the combined total of designs to upwards of 530.

While the prices of cards ranged from Rs 8 to Rs 140, there was even a jumbo card about the size of a one-year-old infant. Says Anil Kumar, assistant manager at Ebony, a supermarket in south Delhi: "All our jumbo cards were sold out. At one point we had a queue for them. There was a particular run on the Hallmark cards too. We had a near 300-per cent increase in sales over last year." And in the Archies Gallery at Vasant Vihar, Delhi, the sale of cards crossed the 5,000-figure over three days ending on the 14th. This, according to proprietor Ajay Bhalla, was three times more than last year's. Says Bhalla, "I think the hype is going to increase next year. Thesales were more this year because Archies brought out a selection of Valentine cards on relations too. They didn't limit it to boyfriends and girlfriends. Parents too found a place."

?Sales weren't limited to cards or mugs either. The Gilli jewellery counter at Ebony, for instance, had a 25 per cent extra sales of pendants, rings and necklaces worth about Rs 4 lakhin a two-day period just because of the build-up.

Leading the hype this time was Times FM which for a whole week geared its programmes to supplement the Valentine carnival it organised last Sunday in Delhi. Valentine Woes , a pro-gramme aired a week before the carnival, asked respondents what they didn't like about their partners and paramours and received such whacky responses as, "She expects me to dress like Govinda", "I don't like her perfume", and "She's always on time". Incidentally, the response of males to the programme was much more than females. The girls, on the other hand, preferred the Gift a Song slot where they could call in and dedicate a song of their choice to their valentine. The programme received 210 calls. The average is close to 50 calls. Expectedly, another programme, asking people what they thought about Valentine's Day, had most of them commenting they didn'tknow anything about the day's history and the elders saying that it was just a racket by the youngsters to get away from work.

Of course, the FM hysteria fed upon itself, with hotels and department stores buying 10 second slots at Rs 350 each to fuel the response. Gourmet Gallery, a four-floor restaurant complex in Delhi's South Extension area bought 30 such slots. They also distributed pamphlets in colleges on two trucks which had girls dancing on them. On the day itself, the restaurants were full up. "It was impossible," says Shoma Chaudhury, a TV producer. "We went from restaurant to restaurant and finally ended up at a dhaba."

Cashing in on the February 14 fever were most of the Delhi discos as well. Oasis, the Hyatt Regency disco, had a night of "unlawful weddings". All entrants received marriage certificates which were valid till the time the bar closed. Not to be outdone, at Ghungroo, the disco at Maurya Sheraton, members turned up in tuxedos and bow ties and ball gowns and waltzed to formal music.

This marketing of love has, however, completely sidelined the importance of Indian festivals like Holi, Diwali and Rakhi. Says Bhalla: "The three festivals combined don't sell cards anywhere near what sells around Valentine's Day."

Well, so much for the power of love. Western style.