My Gift conundrum

Gifts for every occasion whether it’s birthday, mother’s day, father’s day or New year is quite a task at hand. I am quite bad at shopping for gifts and pacing dawn the road means ending up not buying anything, except getting the coolest of Greetings cards.

The perks of being single saves me the times and stress of buying mushy and romantic.  Valentine is just another day flitting like dust and skipping the hard work. Let’s play a bit:  Imagine I am in a relationship with someone and come V Day or her birthday, I may just end up giving an audio CD but the hitch is that in this age of download, people hardly listen to music albums.  An expensive chocolate or perfume with flowers may save the day. Don’t ask me about trying for creative gift buying for I am clueless about this whole gift idea so much that it makes me in awe of people who can come up with some amazing creative ideas to woo and be a real charmer.

On Mother’s Day, I ended up gifting maa yummy Indian food. That was the gift after scratching the head and not that mom expected something but we can always make a small effort in bringing a smile on the face of our parents. My idea of gift is books since they not only adorn my shelf throughout the year but the fact of being a voracious reader myself. Books are a constant companion to win hearts. The moment you shower me with books, we make for eternal friends. Gifting a child is easy and it’s offering money treat.

I am always spoilt and surprised with the hot favourites ranging from chocolate, book marks, novels, wine, tee shirts, tea, perfume and scotch whiskey. It’s a shame that I am yet to give a close and childhood friend a birthday gift which I promised when he treated me with expensive food and was caught off guard. See! How much I suck at giving gift! Not that I am a stinger but unsure whether the other person would like my choice.  

The death of letter?!

Remember the times when we would hold the cramped letters between our fingers and run down the blue ink, agog with excitement on the news that traveled across the seas. It was the time when a cousin and a pen pal would write to us. That was the time when there was no e-mail, sms, G-chat or facebook. Despite social networking site has reduced the distance across country or border, I feel that no social media can replace the joy of reading a letter or receiving a birthday or New Year Greeting card.
I still remember the times when, as kids, we would accompany our pop and mom to the market to select a beautifully designed greeting card or writing pad to bring home. I would nice sit and chose the best pen to put my thoughts black-and-white on paper. Great care would be taken to fold the letter in the envelope and write the address in my best ever handwriting. I would walk my way to the post and as I stick the stamp and slide the envelope inside, there would be a feeling of immense  satisfaction and pride. The feeling would reciprocate itself as I run towards the post man to receive the letter or card that bears my name. Just imagine your name written all over the envelope that traveled across border or countless seas! It really make a difference to your entire existence.
It's sad that today, technology and social networking sites has crippled the entire joy of writing letters and post cards. Your best buddy's birthday round the corner. Why worry? Just write on his or her wall or still better, a virtual e-card.
Somehow, I feel that the kids high on techno stuffs are missing the joy of letters that flows from the post office as well as the joy of writing a letter to a pal across border. Isn't it a case of robbing the child of the fun of a beautiful childhood? Dunno, perhaps I am reaching the elixir or mid-life crisis or I am totally wrong in finding faults with gadgets. As human beings, sometimes we are reluctant to accept the change or less ready to embrace the novel ideas flowing in the form of technology. Today's kids may not really be a problem but our generation may find it hard to accept that things we are so used to are changing. Sometimes, I wonder whether new age kids will ever enjoy something called post office. I would be crest fallen if some kid ask me what is post office and I shall tell..well...what's ur gadget all about?!
I still prefer the post office to do so many stuffs and it's indeed rare for me to send greetings cards by email. I still prefer to buy an Archies Greeting card and write merry christmas and happy new year and shed some extra bucks to send it all the way to a friend. It's like choosing between an e-book and a hard copy. Well, I prefer the hard copy any day. Okay okay! I admit that I have emailed greetings but it's basically to those I deal with on a professional level and some friends due to the shortage of time.
When we write a letter to a friend or a loved one, we pour our emotions and soul on that piece of white paper. It creates an emotional  bond between the one who pens the letter and the one who read the letter. At a glance, it is a conversation where we share the most mundane things that happened to our life or fuck up like break ups and the recipient can feel our love, anger and tears.

Who invented the letter? Whoever the person was, it was a stroke of genuis.