Love was in the air and the city turned to Cupid to rejoice Valentine’s Day in its own way. From flowers to demonstration, everyone was wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Though many of us may not know the history of this pagan festival, the residents braced up well for V-Day.

Named after two early Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

“I don’t know why this day is celebrated but I know that on this day I can propose to any girl without fear,” said Vikas, a youth in his early 20s, hanging around in the Sarabha Nagar market with a rose in hand.

Giving a tough fight to boys, the fairer sex too made all possible efforts to grab their share of attention. “As compared to boys, girls have purchased more flowers,” a boy selling roses outside the Ansal Plaza said.

As expected, the epicentre of love was the Sarabha Nagar market, shopping malls and multiplexes. While youngsters were having a gala time, it was an Herculean task for the men in khaki.

Apart from the deployment of female police personnel, the police had installed barricades at the busy Sarabha Nagar market to prevent the entry of hooligans. A riot-control vehicle was also stationed to keep rowdy elements at bay.

“We will stand guard till midnight,” said Sarabha Nagar SHO Devinder Kumar.

Policemen were omnipresent in the city as youngsters were issued roses (read challans). “We carried out special patrolling in almost all the parts of the city to keep a check on the roadside Romeos. Thankfully, no untoward incident took place,” Police Control Room DSP Sandeep Sharma told Newsline.

“Besides challans in police stations and posts, our traffic police have issued challans to over 500 people and the number is expected to touch 1,000 by 8 pm,” said Traffic police inspector Mandeep Singh.

The day was, however, not restricted to only guns and roses.

Bajrang Dal activists tried to earn free publicity and held a demonstration at the Jagraon bridge. Bajrang Dal city head Rajat Sood said, “We have been wrongly portrayed. We are not opposed to love but we are definitely against obscenity and vulgarity.”

Meanwhile, Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle celebrated the day with deaf and dumb children.

Saraswati Modern School organised a havan to give an ‘Indian’ tinge to the occasion.