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Journalism of Courage
The wedding season is on in full swing. You need to pack yourself up in yards of glittering brocades. But what about that gift you8217;re carrying along- shouldn8217;t that have an equally finished look about it? Or maybe it8217;s a birthday or one of those innumerable bashes. Whatever it is, if you8217;re going there decked to the hilt, it8217;s only fair that the elegant look extends to the gift. Gift-wrapping has become important these days and the way you wrap it up, goes a long way in making a statement.
Of course, there are many of us lazy-bones who purchase a gift and add a casual 8220;wrap it up please8221; to the attendant at the shop. The result is mostly an uninspiring all-looking-the same square or rectangular box. Matters become a little more difficult when the package is of a more unusual shape or size. It is for such occasions that ready-made gift-bags are now available in the market. Made of thick gold-embossed paper they are available in flat, intricately cut-out shapes, with ribbons and gold strings attached. All you have to do is follow instructions and fold along the lines and you8217;ll soon have a little closed pyramid or a bunched up bag to hold your gift. But for sheer variety Punchi8217;s8217; on Boat Club Road takes the cake. There are those beautiful paper bags in different sizes and qualities of paper. Bottles, ties, books, dolls, even sarees and shoes will fit in nicely.
She stocks a whole range of rare-looking paper in her shop along with accessories like bows and ribbons and all it takes is a request for Punchi to wrap it up for you. She uses handmade paper, moonrock paper, the ordinary kite and crepe papers and printed gelatine paper 8220;which looks especially stunning when used over a contrasting sheet of fluorescent paper8221; according to Punchi.
A customer wants a tall bottle to be wrapped up. In a matter of minutes Punchi has done the job. And what does the end-product look like? In this case a giant pencil, at other times she makes it resemble a vase with a colourful bunch of paper flowers at the top. A rectangular box is transformed and looks like a white birthday cake with pink icing on it. A rectangular shape becomes a domino, a square is in the form of a dice. They are wrapped in black paper with white circles pasted on. And you will never guess that this authentic-looking radio, with knobs and wave-length markings, is actually a book. But what does one do with an ungainly earthen matka? Punchi ponders for a moment and there you are! It is well-camouflaged with a bunch of crepe flowers! Whatever the shape, you can trust Punchi to come up with a novel idea.
She packs trousseaus too, and remembers the time she had to single-handedly pack 95 pieces. What had her stumped for a moment was a dozen pieces of lingerie. 8220;I twisted each in such a way that the lacy portion remained at the top like a flower. I then tied it up firmly with string, so that it looked like a bouquet of flowers and stuck them firmly into a bowl covered with ribbons and bows.8221;
Punchi manages to indulge in this creative pastime, not only in her leisure moments in the shop but also at home where she takes orders for festive packing.
