It is customary to take gifts when visiting relatives and close friends. Gifts chosen with love and care are cherished and give a feeling to the recipient that goes beyond the material value of the goods. It’s easy to think of a gift for your own kids whose tastes are known. When I came out of Kerala in the late 1970s, my parents used to travel by train for about three days to visit me. Yet they never hesitated to bring banana chips, jackfruit jam apart from jackfruit from our backyard, murukku And Mother’s LadduEverything made at home. He also used to bring sarees and audio cassettes of Malayalam songs.
All those goodies will literally drive me home and make me feel indulged. Even my aunts who came from their matrimonial homes in North India used to take full boxes. murukku, thenkuzhali, overlord and silk sarees. Once at Mumbai’s international airport, I saw an elderly Maharashtrian couple explaining ingredients to the staff at the check-in counter. bhelpuri The condiment they were taking to their daughter in America; the staff feared it would double as pepper spray! After much pleading, he agreed to drop off the spice with the air hostess and pick it up on arrival in San Francisco.
Over the years, the choice of attire has changed and I cannot repeat the act of gifting saris to my daughters as they rarely wear them and complain about the problem of abundance. He used to wear salwar-kameez with dupatta for many years. And those I could easily have either stitched or gifted as material. But her transition to smart casual, like most modern Indian women, has left me baffled. Now shopping with them at one of the affordable fashion outlets makes practical sense. This situation also applies to my grandchildren. My mother used to weave frocks for my daughters and I have also done lace and embroidery on their clothes.
Now, if I ever manage to get my granddaughters dressed like this, they’ll probably look like they’ve stepped out of their 1980s wardrobes!
Recently I bought Rakhi for my grandchildren from a roadside Rajasthani lady. I took out letters from a tray full of letters. The young woman cleverly tied the macrame with colorful threads and brought out the selected names. She gladly accepted the money offered by me and said that she has woven each rakhi with a prayer for the well being of the wearer. His statement added value to the personalized wristband much loved by my grandchildren.
Food is still a convenient gift and it’s possible to buy almost anything from anywhere. The missing element though is the affection inherent in the process of making it at home, however tedious. My daughters and I have found the joy of exchanging small bottles of homemade chutneys and jams, curry leaf powder, homemade soap, and small hand-embroidered bags. We also exchange unique local items like honey from seasonal flowers like Mahualitchi and Step And jaggery from dates is available only during winter months in Jharkhand Kamod Kankiglutinous broken rice and singdanLarge size groundnut from Gujarat.
while filling the knot khejur guru Wrapped in newspaper in her bag, my daughter, an architectural historian, felt like a medieval merchant, exchanging grain from Gujarat for jaggery from Jamshedpur. same clumsy pack Jaggery Made me feel good for directly supporting the local economy. I think the feelings generated by a gift depend on the ability to see beyond its material value and cherish a priceless connection with the giver.
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