Gifts I Would Gift Thee

Dear Rehaan

What gifts do I give thee?
A cupboard
full of books
or a hundred
seas to see?
Or do you want something
that excites you more
Dora's company
and a new world to explore!

My nephew Rehaan is a curious little boy of four. As a toddler he developed a liking for books, thanks to the many bed-time stories that his mother read out to him, night after night. As he grew older, the love for books too grew and soon enough he was taking unsteady steps towards his book shelf to pull out random books and browse through the pages. Many a times, thrilled by the big colourful pictures, he would bring back the book to whoever was sitting close enough and would make them read out the stories therein.

Now as he is getting older, his interests are getting diverse and much more amusing. From dismantling his little bicycle to joining track after tricky tracks of his toy train set, he enjoys it all. Then there is his ever increasing love for story books. Besides the many books he keep getting as gifts, he also enjoys the company of Peppa Pig and Dora the Explorer, popular kid characters from the world of cartoons. 

For long  I have wanted to gift him something special and often wonder - what should I gift a young boy of four? Toys, toys and some more toys? Box-full of favourite animation series? Chocolates galore? No, if I am his Santa, I'd rather give him something else. Something more lasting than a toy or chocolate hamper.

1. Gift of Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit

Oh this sounds pretty philosophical, right? But wouldn't these make just the perfect gift for a child! Body, mind and spirit, all healthy and in sync with each other. Since childhood we have been fed on the adage - 'Health is Wealth', and yes it indeed is. All our worldly riches and material possessions are pointless if our fragile health does not permit us to enjoy them. So as Santa, I would want to bestow my little Rehaan with good health, and with it a healthy mind and a positive and happy outlook towards life, that is, a positive spirit - for this triumvirate indeed holds the key to lead a happy and harmonious life.

2. Gift of Good Conscience

This might start sounding like a moral science lesson now! Preachers say conscience is a gift of God, and by default it guides as to do good and avoid all that is evil. But as we grow older and the material world starts manifesting itself on us in its myriad ways, many a times the conscience finds it difficult to have a stronger say during moments of evil temptations. Gift of good conscience will ensure that while ambling along in the journey of life he sticks to the road of goodness. The gift will stand him in good stead when faced with treacherousness choices between what is good and what is just seemingly good.

3. Gift of a Strong Spine

No, no - I am not talking abut some magical relief for back pains here! Rehaan has none and I thank God for that! I want him to be someone who is not afraid to take a stand. Some one who is not weak-willed or 'spineless' so to say. As Santa, I would gift him with the gift of a strong spine, to ensure that he grows up to be a brave young man, someone who has a good mind of his own and who knows to stand for what is right.

4. Gift of Good Humour

Gift of laughter and the ability to make others laugh - this would make for a wonderful gift for anyone. In recent times good sense of humour is slowly turning into something of a rarity. Sarcastic jokes, racial slurs and jokes replete with innuendos often pass off as humour. No, none of these for Rehaan. The gift of good humour would ensure that he brings cheerfulness and gives out positive ibes wherever he goes. This special gift would not just help him make light of life's difficult phases but would also help him cheer up others too.

5. Gift of a Deep Piggy Bank

Since childhood we were taught or rather preached about not attaching much significance to money. 'Money cannot buy you happiness', was every elder's constant refrain. But the way things are in the present scenario, it seems money, even if not the only means of happiness, sure is a deciding factor in sizing up your happiness quotient. The new mantra people are debating now is whether or not money makes the world go round. Well I have my opinion reserved on this, but yes, one must add here that with the inflation rate skyrocketing, I would most definitely gift a deep piggy bank to Rehaan to inculcate the habit of saving from an early age. The piggy bank would ensure that he not just learns the importance of saving but also the importance of spending money wisely.

 So these are the 5 gifts I would gift my baby nephew Rehaan. Of course this is not a definitive list and there's so much more to add here - the good values of honesty and integrity, good education and of course sound and secure insurance and investment plans. By and by these would be joining the gift list too. For now let me watch him practice being an elf for the his school Christmas play!

Alice(s) in Wonderland

While growing up in the far-flung areas of our country, I never really had a best friend. Best friend in the sense many speak of the word - one friend that you have grown up with, that one friend you went to school with, the one who knows you inside out. This lack of a best friend was one of the many pitfalls of being born to parents with transferable jobs. Nonetheless, though I did not have a best friend so to say, I did have lots of good friends - friends from all across the country.

It was only when I started college and shifted into a hostel that I met the girl who was to turn into my proverbial best friend. Our friendship started with random hi, hellos, graduating to exchange of class notes and in no time we were bonding over endless chat sessions about latest political updates, the exhaustive books collection in the college library and the current affairs - yes, you read that right - as mass communication students, these topics were the things that kept as pre-occupied! 

Fun for us was doing all quirky things! Getting up at 6 in the morning to check-out our favourite News anchors, watching movies all night long, buying matching stuff from the stores and threatening auto-drivers with dire consequences if he did not abide by the traffic rules!

When it came to girly things like make-up and fashion, we were like Alice(s) in Wonderland! We would wonder with amazement at every little thing we would discover in our friends' make-up boxes! And on the make-up counters at the malls! Stuff that was fancier than your regular kohl pencil, eye-liner, and lipstick!  There were hundred different brushes to put the make up on, there were exotic concealers to hide marks and blemishes on your face, eye-shadows, blush-ons and what not! An array of products to turn you from a plain Jane into a glowing princess in no time - provided one knew what to apply and where! 

So Alices(s) in Wonderland we were, wearing down the sales-girls at different brand counters with our nincompoop queries about some product or the other! More often than not, we did not buy the products despite our incessant questions, for we knew we will not use them after all. And the rare occasions when we let our minds and hearts be convinced about a product, all sorts of experiments would start once we reached our hostel rooms, and these experiments would then soon turn into laugh riots! 

Once we got this fancy face-pack from some cosmetics shop and it promised super glowing skin within minutes of applying and lo and behold, as soon as we reached our room, we were all set to put it on! But once we had applied it on our scrubbed faces we forgot about the goodness of the product or wondering whether it will actually work wonders on our skin like it promised, our new experiment was to see who looked more ghastly or rather GHOSTLY with the face pack on! In a while friends from adjoining rooms too joined us in our experiment and one ghostly sight we all made with this black mud pack on our faces!

And now when I see this beautiful Dove soap hamper, I know how this new experiment is going to turn out! My best friend is again going to be the guinea pig for this experiment! As my partner in crime in many offbeat experiments, she will be game for this one too! Anything for good, glowing skin, and quirky photographs! 

For Love

So there was this time when I was reading a lot of Vikram Seth - more poetry than prose - and got so influenced by his crisp thought-flow, that I would try and pen down verses in his style. Here's one such example. Have written a few more, will share by and by.

For love, a few hugs

and a little kiss,

I let him

Like me.

Heart rose to the occasion, indeed,

And so I liked him,

For love, a few hugs

And a little kiss.