Gifts, an integral part of the whole wedding tamasha can give one nightmares too. Gifts mostly in the form of clothes to relatives of groom and bride, friends, gifts for the groom and bride...the list goes on.
A couple of months before printing my wedding invites, I tried talking my dad into fixing a footnote on the card -- that gifts were not welcome, or that selective gifts, like donation to a charity of our choice, would be encouraged.
A little before the wedding cards were printed, he refused the idea. He insisted some of his friends would not make it to the wedding if we added the `no gifts' footnote. Having seen weddings where irrelevant gifts get dumped on couples, and also a wedding where the groom and bride held a blood donation camp, it was only natural that I wanted something meaningful. Even the blood donation camp idea got dunked.
The best wedding gifts should ideally suit the bride's and groom's personality. My fiance' made no specific demands, keeping pace with the mood among elders. I kept praying for those ideal gifts - books or book vouchers from stores! After all, buying books would not be as easy as it used to be, before the wedding! Gift coupons for home furnishing stores give couples a choice plus prevent their pushing off those big expenses to later dates. Even money that I did not favour then, is of help to the couple and their family, for all the expenses incurred.
Needless to say, I have landed the gifts most other couples do. Dinner sets (about three or four of them) that I could not carry to Mumbai, Ganesha showpieces that I am not able to hang on the walls of my home because it's a rented one, little showpieces too fragile to carry on travel...the list goes on.
Gifts from the lot I cherish are few and thoughtful. An ethnic key-holder that has an interesting imprint etched on it - of Lord Ganesha and Lord Balaji. Books (yeah I did get them) gifted by the Tehelka team in Bangalore which seemed to know my tastes better! Boxes of turmeric, kumkum, yellow thread and other such traditional cosmetics gifted by elderly women.
For those who have managed to fix footnotes such as the one I wanted to, and succeeded, kudos! May your tribe increase...
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