How India Loves: Tum Hi Ho

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Valentine's Day may be global. But love in India is beautifully local.

It's found in everyday gestures, familiar places and emotions we rarely put into words.

Here's a look at how India truly loves, beyond the cliches and hashtags.

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Love Begins With Chai-Kaphee

From tapris to cafes, nothing expresses affection like 'Chai pee lo' or 'Ek cup coffee ho jaye'. Conversations, confessions, served hot.

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Bollywood Taught Us How to Love

Rain dances, missed trains, meadow whirls behind trees, slow-motion glances, India learned romance frame by frame.

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Meeting Secretly, Loving Deeply

Hidden from the world, love in India is often about stolen time, far from prying/disapproving eyes.

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Food Is Our Love Language

Cooking for someone, sharing the last bite, or surrendering the bigger Gulab Jamun=Pyaar.

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Distance Doesn't Stop Love

Different cities, time zones, unpaired networks, but we will send out 'reached?' texts, make daily calls and conduct video dinners, making sure our hearts huddle together no matter the distance.

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Love Is Grand

From secret college romances to dramatic proposals, India does both nazar se bachke and full dhol too.

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Wet In The Rain

Three to four months of our year it's raining, sometimes buckets. Hence wet-sari love and Rimjhim-wallah affairs.

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Handwritten Chits Still Matter

Slipped into books, bags, or diaries -- simple lines that stay forever.

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Temple Prayers For Each Other

We may complete each other sentences and prayers too. Light a diya for someone, tie a thread or make a silent promise before god.

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Old-School Romance Never Fades

Couples who say little, hold hands quietly, not much shooshaa, are some India's most powerful love stories.

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'Did You Eat?' Is A Love Question

Concern equals care. This one line, in many languages -- 'Jevalas ka?' 'Khana khaya?', 'Unavu untanar?' -- carries more love than 'I miss you'.

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Festivals Are Love Multipliers

Holi, Diwali, colours, sweets. Every celebration is another reason to express affection.

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Love And The Moon

From 'chaand sa chehra' comparisons to moonlit terrace conversations, the moon becomes a silent witness to longing, poetry, prayers, and promises. We don't just admire it. We talk to it, sing to it and send messages of love through it.

Text and Presentation: Hemantkumar Shivsharan