Parting gifts

Now her daughter is in her first year of college. Accompanying her to buy a gift for her schoolmate and watching her toss a coin between a teddy bear worth a thousand rupees or a soft toy dog costing eight hundred rupees, I couldn8217;t help feel a little sad.

We learnt financial management quite early in life. We would cajole our parents and borrow from friends. The IOU8217;s were redeemed within a matter of days. In those days none of us was rich enough to afford to let generosity stretch into weeks. The act of balancing had to be mastered at an early age. After all, how could we bear to go without Coca-Cola which was available in the school canteen at thirty-five paise per bottle? We devised a way to drink Coke all six days a week when the monthly pocket money did not exceed Rs. Five even for the richest girl. We would buy one bottle and divide it amongst the group to the accuracy of last drop.

At birthday parties, Coke was served in tumblers and each child was given an equal share. As for the gifts received on birthdays we were never asked to keep them and pass them on to an other friends on their birthday, even if this meant that we would be landed with three identical gifts.

Today, when I see teenagers choosing gifts, and grading friendship and the comparative cost of gifts down to the last hundred rupees, I wonder what the true value of friendship is for the new generation.

To me it is was so much more fun to sit in a college canteen eating peanuts and sharing your secrets rather than eating a two hundred rupees worth pizza and boasting to your friends about foreign trips. But why blame the youngsters when we ourselves indulge in such gimmicks.

Come Diwali and the comparative worth of gifts to an individual will be measured by the position he holds and to what extent he could be helpful. As Khalil Gibran said, you give little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.