(From top Actor Sabyasachi with wife Seema, hockey player Dilip Tirkey with his wife Meera,Baijayant Panda with his wife Jaggi. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 13: Love is in the air as Valentine’s Day is here. While the occasion throws open an opportunity for lovers to express their affection, The Telegraph spoke to few celebrity couples on the occasion who shared their idea of love and their plans to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Jaggi and Jay Panda

He is a young and dynamic politician, an MP from the state and she is a model turned businesswoman. Together, Jay and Jaggi Panda make the perfect couple. Their love story aided by destiny, took off when the duo met on a flight to Frankfurt. Ever since then, this pair has only gone from strength to strength despite the several miles that keep them apart today for work purposes.

The story of this couple’s, similar to a Mills and Boons tale, is believed to be the perfect love story. However, Jaggi and Jay believe there’s more to love than perfection.

“Everybody has a love story. But looking for perfection defeats the purpose of love,” says Jaggi.

“The idea of love is to accept each other the way they are and not to look for perfection,” she said. Her better-half added, “That is the best way to grow that love we have for each other and find happiness in it.”

Speaking about each other, the couple said the journey of exploring each other continues. “We accept each other the way we are,” said Jay.

“Neither he nor I have ever tried to change anything about the other. Hence, I can easily say that Jay is still the same man I fell in love with,” Jaggi added.

Seema and Sabyasachi Mishra

He may be the heartthrob of many girls, but actor Sabyasachi was bowled over by Seema, his classmate during their engineering days. The actor and his wife, who presently teaches at the engineering college they studied at, found their soulmatesin each other. The couple that tied the knot in 2008, reminisce their courtship days on the occasion of Valentine’s Day.

“We have always been the best of friends – before and after marriage. And that companionship, I believe, is most important in a relationship,” said Seema.

“When people ask me if I have ever been insecure since Sabya is an actor and has many followers, I just laugh it off since as his college friend I used to help him impress girls,” she said, adding that trust is the base of their love.

Meanwhile, Sabyasachi said, he is a hard core romantic and loves making her smile with surprises. “I feel any day is good enough to celebrate love. But why not make use of a day completely dedicated to love,” he smiled. “We always celebrate Valentine’s Day and Seema has strict regulations for me to be free from shoot for the occasion,” Sabyasachi added.

The couple have planned a candle lit dinner at their home. “What can be better than a romantic evening together,” said the actor.

Meera and Dilip Tirkey

A courtship of three years followed by a grand marriage in 2006, after some resistance from family and community members – this is precisely the love story of former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey and his wife, Meera.

Though he reached dizzy heights in the field of hockey, Dilip was “knocked-out” by Meera, a girl in the neighbourhood. The couple believes, their’s is a “happily ever after” love story.

“I was simply amazed by Meera’s simplicity and comforting smile. She was my dream girl and life with her feels like living a fairy tale,” says Dilip. Meera agreed and added, “Not only is he the perfect husband, but also a wonderful human being.”

With regular international series earlier and now, after retirement from international hockey, his projects of talent hunts at the grassroots level, Dilip said he had always kept busy and not given enough time to Meera as he would love to.

“But she has always been supportive and never complained. No one understands me like her,” he said.

While usually the couple used to celebrate Valentine’s Day by dining out and going for a long drive, this year the plan was made only at the last moment. Dilip had been in Jharsuguda for his hockey project but says he had to make it home on Monday. “I had to be back to spend some time together with her and celebrate,” he said.