Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Gifts are my bastion conquered...
I mean I just can't imagine giving some gift out of the gift shop. It has to be personal. It has to be thought over. It has to have A TOUCH. It has to have My Touch!!
Well, let me clarify. This is not to say that I have NEVER given a gift out of the shop. I have, but that could be because either I would not have found either the occasion or the person worth a lot of thought!! No offense to anyone but just my philosophy.
Hmm now talking of the various gifts i have given around. Most of them have been to my fiance and my husband- both of them are the same person. He too has managed to learn and innovate the art of gifting. So can't say that I am the only one who gives 'different' kind of gifts- I get them too!
Basically, I believe in sending at least a personal note alongwith every gift if I can't manage a personalized gift. The earliest memories I have of sending a different sort of a gift go way back to my 9th grade. That was the peak time of my teenages and my life was PATHETIC- as every teenager believes it to be until they move further to find PATHETIC-ER life! Well at that time my sister Veeral was my only soulmate- she is even today but not the only one. So for her birthday I had secretly bought a card. Now, Veeral was(read is) bad at grammar, she could never tell the difference between and adjective or an adverb! But I wanted to write her a personal note and all I could think of was something like
"To Veeral, for whom all adjectives, adverbs, interjections and phrases are insufficient."
And below this note, I had given a key with definitions of adjectives, adverbs, and phrases and everything. Veeral at that point of time was not very pleased with a GRAMMATICAL b'day card and neither am I at this moment BUT I believe it tells me about myself. It tells me that since THEN I did not like blank, out of the shop gifts.
Zooom forward a few years and I am cheated into engagement at the tender, immature age of 19. You see, abhi knew that he would never get a female like me so he readily agreed to the engagement when he was all in the 5th sem of his engineering. (This is my blog and my version so if abhi has any problems with the facts here he may clarify in his blog. Not here.) Hmm now riding on a wave of young romance I was all set to make his first b'day unforgettable.
In those days we used to meet on the overhead tank in my society. Ahmedabad not being very conducive to romance we had to invent options for privacy. And what better place than an open to the sky more than 100 sq. ft. space with stars gazing at us. So, talking of the gifts- for that b'day I started shopping various things for him alongwith Deepti (my bestie!) almost a month in advance. Both me and deepti would sneak out a few afternoons in a week and collect various stuff from the market. I had bought him a few shirts/t shirts, trousers, a Titan watch, i think books, chocolates and cards. Had all of wrapped in the choicest wrapping papers and stuffed in two huge carry bags. Now the problem was how to gift those to him. Till we were shopping all the stuff used to lie at deepti's place. You see I was officially engaged but I was not to show around to my parents that I am spending more than one whole year's pocket money on something so trivial as birthday! And I wanted to gift him all of it that night at 12 only. Soo I decided to get all the bags from deepti's place that day in the morning. Secretly placed them in my room. At about 8 pm without being conspicuous I carried all the stuff to the overhead tank where we usually met up. But the problem was I wanted to gift him everything at the stroke of 12. And we met up earlier at around 10. If the gifts are at the same place we sit then he would definitely see them and all my surprise factor would evaporate. So I thought of placing the bags on a flight below where we sat. But it was very much in public and I feared all the while from 10-12 "what if somebody just walked off with those bags?" the surprise would definitely be ruined but I would also loose my hard saved money. But thankfully people the stuff was not robbed. And at precise 12 I went downstairs and came up with hands full of gifts and the look on his face told me that all my efforts were worth it. He was not pleasantly surprised- he was pleasantly SHOCKED! He had never been gifted or pampered in this manner and he enjoyed it. I had not gifted or pampered anyone before and I enjoyed it too! Besides all the gifts that I gave him then (which he could hardly carry on his two-wheeler) I even had a bouquet of red roses delivered to his place before his arrival- waiting for him at the door. The note on which read "For you". And he enjoyed that too but his reaction to that is something I shall never forget. He told me the other day "Hey, you know someone left me red roses for my birthday last night!" And I didnt know how to react. How to tell him that there is only one person (rather there would better be ONLY one person) who would gift you red roses and that is me. It never struck him that I could gift him something over and above the bags full of gifts that he carried home. But I did! And that is what i like- Gifting beyond the other person's expectations.
Then in August came our first engagement anniversary. And again I was all prepared for a personalized gift. This time because I had very little money left after the extravagant gifting parade of April i had to stick to budgets and still be creative. So i took over to something i was good at- writing. I decided to gift him a scrapbook that would account the major instances of our first year together. And once i started working on them i could not stop. i had gathered a few things like roses, petals, chits, etc. that were a part of our romance but not exactly gifted to each other. So off i went on an assembling trip. The collection included a lot of things like our picture at the engagement etc. but there were two things that i liked the most and can recall out of sheer memory right now. (that scrap book is with one of my friends right now and i have not seen it since i wrote it!! so this entire account is out of memory only)
One of them was a strand of his hair that i had found on my clothes once when i came back home. and somehow i kept it with myself for no reason. and then when i wrote the scrapbook i pasted that strand saying i treasure everything that belongs to you. and nooooooooo i do not gather all his hair anymore. that was probably the first time besides childhood that i had some human being so close to me that i could have his hair fall on me.
The other one was even more lovely. In around Oct after our engagement last year in aug abhi went on a tour to bangalore and he was to return by train at 3:30 in the morning. and i kinda seeked mom's permission to go pick him up. (i told her he is coming late. never told her this late!!) And off i went at three in the morning all alone by myself to the railway station which is quite faraway from my place. But maaaan i enjoyed that ride. i enjoyed driving so late at night with the streets sooo empty i could zoom off at more than 100 kmph easily. and i was at the railway station in a few minutes. and there because i wanted to be at his platform i had to buy a platform ticket. and i preserved that ticket- as a memory. and then i stuck that ticket in the scrapbook just to tell him how crazy can i get when it comes to giving him a surprise. and it sure was a surprise to him. the glow on his face and the shock his friends' face told me that i had accomplished what many girls dream of but don't get to do- doing the bizarre thing just to say I CARE!
Well, came april 2003 and i was away in essex doing my masters and he was back home. we used to chat everyday and he would relentlessly worry about the place i lived at and the frnds i had and the safety of the new place etc. so to put his anxieties at rest i decided to shoot video of the entire campus with me as the anchor! now i had no camcorder so made the most of the 'Customer is the king(in uk)' slogan. Went to Argos and bought a brand new 700 pound camcorder on credit card with complete intention of returning it as soon as the video was shot!! Sorry Argos! Hmm so bought the camcorder found the cameraman- my dear aman bhalla and started the shoot. it took us almost one full day to cover the entire campus starting from my room to Harwich court, to square 3 and the library and the football ground and of course the towers.
After the video was shot i guiltlessly returned the camcorder and decided to make a CD out of it and send ti to abhi along with a map of the campus.
but none of it worked out because abhi gave me a greater surprise by coming over to essex from india just to meet me!! and i could not be more ecstatic! but because i had to give meaning to a lot of hard work of my friends and mine i first showed him the video and then took him around the campus! every time i watch the video clip even today it makes me nostalgic of essex and proud of having gone to these proportions again to say- I CARE!
Well there are few more instances that i still have to add but i am getting impatient and hence posting this incomplete post!! NJOI!
I mean I just can't imagine giving some gift out of the gift shop. It has to be personal. It has to be thought over. It has to have A TOUCH. It has to have My Touch!!
Well, let me clarify. This is not to say that I have NEVER given a gift out of the shop. I have, but that could be because either I would not have found either the occasion or the person worth a lot of thought!! No offense to anyone but just my philosophy.
Hmm now talking of the various gifts i have given around. Most of them have been to my fiance and my husband- both of them are the same person. He too has managed to learn and innovate the art of gifting. So can't say that I am the only one who gives 'different' kind of gifts- I get them too!
Basically, I believe in sending at least a personal note alongwith every gift if I can't manage a personalized gift. The earliest memories I have of sending a different sort of a gift go way back to my 9th grade. That was the peak time of my teenages and my life was PATHETIC- as every teenager believes it to be until they move further to find PATHETIC-ER life! Well at that time my sister Veeral was my only soulmate- she is even today but not the only one. So for her birthday I had secretly bought a card. Now, Veeral was(read is) bad at grammar, she could never tell the difference between and adjective or an adverb! But I wanted to write her a personal note and all I could think of was something like
"To Veeral, for whom all adjectives, adverbs, interjections and phrases are insufficient."
And below this note, I had given a key with definitions of adjectives, adverbs, and phrases and everything. Veeral at that point of time was not very pleased with a GRAMMATICAL b'day card and neither am I at this moment BUT I believe it tells me about myself. It tells me that since THEN I did not like blank, out of the shop gifts.
Zooom forward a few years and I am cheated into engagement at the tender, immature age of 19. You see, abhi knew that he would never get a female like me so he readily agreed to the engagement when he was all in the 5th sem of his engineering. (This is my blog and my version so if abhi has any problems with the facts here he may clarify in his blog. Not here.) Hmm now riding on a wave of young romance I was all set to make his first b'day unforgettable.
In those days we used to meet on the overhead tank in my society. Ahmedabad not being very conducive to romance we had to invent options for privacy. And what better place than an open to the sky more than 100 sq. ft. space with stars gazing at us. So, talking of the gifts- for that b'day I started shopping various things for him alongwith Deepti (my bestie!) almost a month in advance. Both me and deepti would sneak out a few afternoons in a week and collect various stuff from the market. I had bought him a few shirts/t shirts, trousers, a Titan watch, i think books, chocolates and cards. Had all of wrapped in the choicest wrapping papers and stuffed in two huge carry bags. Now the problem was how to gift those to him. Till we were shopping all the stuff used to lie at deepti's place. You see I was officially engaged but I was not to show around to my parents that I am spending more than one whole year's pocket money on something so trivial as birthday! And I wanted to gift him all of it that night at 12 only. Soo I decided to get all the bags from deepti's place that day in the morning. Secretly placed them in my room. At about 8 pm without being conspicuous I carried all the stuff to the overhead tank where we usually met up. But the problem was I wanted to gift him everything at the stroke of 12. And we met up earlier at around 10. If the gifts are at the same place we sit then he would definitely see them and all my surprise factor would evaporate. So I thought of placing the bags on a flight below where we sat. But it was very much in public and I feared all the while from 10-12 "what if somebody just walked off with those bags?" the surprise would definitely be ruined but I would also loose my hard saved money. But thankfully people the stuff was not robbed. And at precise 12 I went downstairs and came up with hands full of gifts and the look on his face told me that all my efforts were worth it. He was not pleasantly surprised- he was pleasantly SHOCKED! He had never been gifted or pampered in this manner and he enjoyed it. I had not gifted or pampered anyone before and I enjoyed it too! Besides all the gifts that I gave him then (which he could hardly carry on his two-wheeler) I even had a bouquet of red roses delivered to his place before his arrival- waiting for him at the door. The note on which read "For you". And he enjoyed that too but his reaction to that is something I shall never forget. He told me the other day "Hey, you know someone left me red roses for my birthday last night!" And I didnt know how to react. How to tell him that there is only one person (rather there would better be ONLY one person) who would gift you red roses and that is me. It never struck him that I could gift him something over and above the bags full of gifts that he carried home. But I did! And that is what i like- Gifting beyond the other person's expectations.
Then in August came our first engagement anniversary. And again I was all prepared for a personalized gift. This time because I had very little money left after the extravagant gifting parade of April i had to stick to budgets and still be creative. So i took over to something i was good at- writing. I decided to gift him a scrapbook that would account the major instances of our first year together. And once i started working on them i could not stop. i had gathered a few things like roses, petals, chits, etc. that were a part of our romance but not exactly gifted to each other. So off i went on an assembling trip. The collection included a lot of things like our picture at the engagement etc. but there were two things that i liked the most and can recall out of sheer memory right now. (that scrap book is with one of my friends right now and i have not seen it since i wrote it!! so this entire account is out of memory only)
One of them was a strand of his hair that i had found on my clothes once when i came back home. and somehow i kept it with myself for no reason. and then when i wrote the scrapbook i pasted that strand saying i treasure everything that belongs to you. and nooooooooo i do not gather all his hair anymore. that was probably the first time besides childhood that i had some human being so close to me that i could have his hair fall on me.
The other one was even more lovely. In around Oct after our engagement last year in aug abhi went on a tour to bangalore and he was to return by train at 3:30 in the morning. and i kinda seeked mom's permission to go pick him up. (i told her he is coming late. never told her this late!!) And off i went at three in the morning all alone by myself to the railway station which is quite faraway from my place. But maaaan i enjoyed that ride. i enjoyed driving so late at night with the streets sooo empty i could zoom off at more than 100 kmph easily. and i was at the railway station in a few minutes. and there because i wanted to be at his platform i had to buy a platform ticket. and i preserved that ticket- as a memory. and then i stuck that ticket in the scrapbook just to tell him how crazy can i get when it comes to giving him a surprise. and it sure was a surprise to him. the glow on his face and the shock his friends' face told me that i had accomplished what many girls dream of but don't get to do- doing the bizarre thing just to say I CARE!
Well, came april 2003 and i was away in essex doing my masters and he was back home. we used to chat everyday and he would relentlessly worry about the place i lived at and the frnds i had and the safety of the new place etc. so to put his anxieties at rest i decided to shoot video of the entire campus with me as the anchor! now i had no camcorder so made the most of the 'Customer is the king(in uk)' slogan. Went to Argos and bought a brand new 700 pound camcorder on credit card with complete intention of returning it as soon as the video was shot!! Sorry Argos! Hmm so bought the camcorder found the cameraman- my dear aman bhalla and started the shoot. it took us almost one full day to cover the entire campus starting from my room to Harwich court, to square 3 and the library and the football ground and of course the towers.
After the video was shot i guiltlessly returned the camcorder and decided to make a CD out of it and send ti to abhi along with a map of the campus.
but none of it worked out because abhi gave me a greater surprise by coming over to essex from india just to meet me!! and i could not be more ecstatic! but because i had to give meaning to a lot of hard work of my friends and mine i first showed him the video and then took him around the campus! every time i watch the video clip even today it makes me nostalgic of essex and proud of having gone to these proportions again to say- I CARE!
Well there are few more instances that i still have to add but i am getting impatient and hence posting this incomplete post!! NJOI!
Labels: care, creativity, gifts, personalized gifts, thoughtfulness
