All the valentines

All the valentines in the world seemed to have landed in his inbox. Whose hare-brained idea was this, anyway? His own, he groaned. To have a contest for valentine messages, with 'attractive prizes'. He thought he'd get a handful of entries -- he had given a 24 hour deadline, after all -- pick one, send the guy some movie tickets or something, and use what he could out of the messages in his hand-made valentine card to his own girlfriend.

It was this hand-made card that had started everything. And his mad love for her. He loved her. He actually wanted this one to last, for keeps. And she had said -- no bought gifts or cards. He would have to make one. He was okay with drawing. He could do a decent sketch of her, holding the teddy he'd gifted her on her birthday. He could do a nice background -- the park they loved to walk in.

But when it came to writing mindful, soulful, heartfelt messages, he froze. He could not. in person, he would resort to an old Hindi-film song, the mushier the better ... but a message to write on a card? That was beyond him.

Then the thought of the contest, and put it on his Facebook page. The page on which he announced the events happening in the city. He didn't even bother to create a poster, or a picture. Just plain text, giving a less-used email id for responses.

Responses.

Seven hundred and fifty four responses. And a half-hour still to go for the deadline. Seven hundred fifty five. Fifty six ... he closed his eyes.

Poems, letters, quotations, even a couple of scripts ... just how many Romeos and Juliets were running around town, anyway? And how could he possibly choose? He must focus. He must concentrate. He had to get to this card ...

Hey, good one. Yeah. And another. He could combine these two ... and add this phrase ... this was fun!

It was fun, after all.

A few hours ... or was it a day or two ... later, he had three winners all picked out. He sent one his coupon for pizza, another his coupon for prime seats at the theatre, and a third his coupon for a free cab ride.

And then he got to combining the three messages into one huge, gorgeous card. She would love this one. He added some bits to make it three dimensional, wrapped it well in bubble-wrap to keep it safe, and put the whole thing in a big envelope.

Valentines Day, and there she was, smiling at him. She handed him the card she had made. He handed her the one he had made.

"What a huge card! And how well wrapped! I'll need scissors to open this without spoiling the envelope. Oh, you have taken trouble!"

"Anything for you, my dear!

"I think I'll open it at home. I don't want to spoil it. Oh I can't wait to read what you've written in it."

"I'm sure you'll like it. Now, what're we doing? There's a twenty-a-side cricket match on ..."

"Let's go to the theatre. I've won some prime seats."

"Wow! Cool! Okay, I'll book a cab."

"No, no, I've won a cab ride, too."

"Uh -- how many things have you won, exactly?"

She giggled. "Three. There was some fellow on Facebook, ran a contest for valentine messages. I sent six entries, in six different names. Three of them won. I got tickets to the theatre, a cab ride and we'll have pizza afterwards."