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Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
May 8, 2013
We recently received a gift with the polite note attached to it wishing us all the best. Except when we opened it we discovered it was our note which we had written when we gave them the same gift last year.
Recycling gifts can be hazardous business, if you are not careful. If you are giving away a pair of ugly as sin candleholders (forget all that -abra stuff) it isn’t rocket science that you didn’t go shopping for them. Now, remember before you do the whole camouflage packing in expensive paper act, who gave them to you in the first place and, for your own sanity, check for cards stuck in funny places. We love exclaiming about how thoughtful a gift is and when it is thoughtful and someone has considered you as a person and not a recipient it is truly heartwarming and the gift becomes a bond.
But when we fling it at each other like a bean bag then it sort of loses its value. I know one bottle of red plonk did the rounds for months on end coming back to us as a gift twice over a year and it was like that game we played called passing the parcel. It was that message in the bottle, bobbing along on the seas of convenience, oh just shove it in the paper bag with the ribbon and let’s go. Before you do go make sure you aren't giving white metal bowls or trays or vases that have your name inscribed on them by those who presented them to you.
One crummy trick is to give cheapie gifts and not put your name on them so everyone sees you coming in with a bag and they can knock themselves out later figuring out who gave it to them.
But, for some people we know, gift giving is an art, a gracious and generous act in which a great deal of consideration has been shown. They know you, they know what you like and they make you really happy. Not enough of those, I am afraid. Which one are you? A recycler or a great gift giver?
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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