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Most of my romantic moments hover around food. So I think I have done enough of cooking-a-meal for my wife, Alyona. This time I have decided to take her to London for a romantic dinner. I think more than showering gifts, romance is about being thoughtful. I remember, about 15 years ago, I was working as a chef in a hotel in Delhi. Valentine’s Day in a hotel is a very hectic and important day. I decided to work non-stop for a month, just to get that day off.

I took my wife Alyona to Badkal Lake and spent the whole day together. It was so nice.

It happened in 1976. I had become famous by doing “Bambai Se Aaya Mera Dost” and “Chalte Chalte”. One day, I composed the song “Pyar Manga Hai Tumhi Se”, took my girlfriend to the recording studio and said, ‘I have dedicated this song to you’. It affected her so much she married me the following year!”

Those days I was dating Shoba (now his wife). She was an air hostess with British Airways. Once she was in London. I was missing her terribly in Mumbai. So, I boarded a flight to London and landed at her hotel. Some 40 years ago flying to ‘vilayat’ was a big thing. It wasn’t as easy as it is today. Seeing me, she nearly fainted with excitement. She loved it and still feels great about that.

As a young revolutionary poet, I used to get letters from admirers. One of them was a girl who I always used to write back to. Once a man with three ladies came home and asked me to sell the magazine I used to write in. I refused and said I can ‘present’ it to you. The ladies kept silent. Just before leaving, one of them, very beautiful, said, ‘Can I ask you….’ left the sentence incomplete and went away. Three months later, I joined Anand Bazaar Patrika and saw her there. I asked her what she wanted to say but she refused. Later she invited me to a poetry recitation session. I kept staring at her. It felt very romantic. Now, she is my wife and still maintains a mysterious silence about that day!

When The most romantic thing I have done? I will have to choose from thousands. But when I was in school in Bombay, I used to walk past this girl’s house everyday. We would wave to each other from the veranda. For a year, I walked to her bus-stop. And everyday I gave her a flower and a letter. It goes without saying, she became my wife.

The most romantic thing I can do is to write a song, and that’s what I do, and that’s what I have done. I was just 13 and studying at St. Columba’s, New Delhi. There was this girl in my neighbouring school whom I used to like a lot. I wrote a song for her called “Rose”. But I didn’t have the guts to sing to her, instead I sang to my friends, who weren’t too impressed!

I am the most unromantic person. I am very practical. On Valentine’s Day, I wear everything red though, only to show solidarity for the cause. I hate wining/dining etc. I hate it also because I have to hear only love songs a week before February 14. I request George Bush to please stop this.

I gave my wife a rose a month after I met her, then two roses the next month and likewise. In the fifth month, when I gave her five roses, her mother said, ‘Good, at least, he has given you a bunch this time.’ She thought her daughter was dating the cheapest guy in Delhi, we had a huge laugh over that.

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