GIFT

To decide what to give as a gift or present is a difficult job and full of risk. It becomes necessary to consider several factors before deciding how much to spend in value.

After the marriage of my daughter only we two are in our family- husband and wife. We have often to decide as to what gift to present. My wife is very practical in thinking. She is a teacher, so her discrimination and judgmental power are strong. I am an ignorant and unintelligent person. So our ideas do not match.

We are calm and non interfering lovers. We have understood the meaning of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is a family). By giving a valuable gift we share our love. It is said that love has a holy place in the world, but in today's world, whoever really loves, gets only a little respect in return, but not as expected or as desired.

Only a few days back , we had the invitation for the birthday of a six year old son of my neighbor. There are four members in their family- husband, wife and two sons. Birthdays are celebrated for everyone of them. We had intimate friendship with that family for the last six years. Like every year my wife started discussing with me as to what type of gift to be given for the son's birthday.

Every year we used to give on their birthdays gift worth Rs 500 per person comprising of such items which are useful for the day to day work. It meant Rs 2000 per year.In return we got passing gifts worth Rs 200 from them for our birthdays. Passing gift means presenting the gifts received from others.They were like memento or decorative items which were not good for our daily use. So long we did not use them as passing gift they remained inside our almirahs. My wife believed that we could also present them a total of four passing gifts worth Rs 400 - thereby meaning a passing gift of Rs 100 for the son. So by our intimacy we had to face a total loss of Rs 2000 every year.

My wife strived to make me understand this point for years which I could not understand. But after receiving the gifts for our birthdays this year we could become wiser and decided that it was beneficial only in accepting the proposal of my wife. We were fooling ourselves for years but realized that "It was better late than never in the year 2018"

This true story is only an example. Similar things happen in every house or every family. This is a bitter truth. So be practical.

Now there is yet another aspect to consider. When we go for a boy’s marriage we eat free.The boy is at a total, loss. When both of us go to a girl's marriage,we give 500 rupees in envelope, and eat two plates of food worth 1,000 - 1,000 rupees thus the girl loses Rs 1,500. Here the conscience of the wife says that “Be practical, do the same as others do”.

But on such occasions one family deserves to be commended. The husband and wife take meals on the same plate whereby the host has to carry a burden of only Rs 1000 for two persons.

Now let us talk about the gifts which come in the form of sweets on Diwali. Soan Papdi of Dahi Sham or Pikano are the best passing gift which have an expiry date of 4 months and less costly. It passes off 4 to 5 hands easily. In the same colony there is every possibility of its return back to the same person. Those who get such passing gift, near the expiry date, get relieved by passing it on to the domestic maid. The giver thanks the Lord saying “Life saved is better than gold”. (Jaan Bachi To Lakho Paye.) and wishes the soan papdi not to enter the house anymore.

My wife informed me that each employee of an office is given a laddu worth Rs 150 this year whereas Kaju Katli Barfi or dry fruits are given to VIPs.

Apart from this we may also call the bribe as a form of gift. Wherever one has to get some work done by an office, the value of the gift should be in proportion to the benefit one derives.

Original Story:- https://storymirror.com/read/story/hindi/6weglajs/uphaar by Atul Agarwal