My best gift to me...

~Disclaimer: Nothing in this note be pls considered as words of flattery towards anyone, by any means!

I will only be honest if I say that I love the idea of gifts. Whoever started it :) must be a nice soul.

Preeti’s post got me into thinking of all the gifts given or recd by me and what a lovely subject to think about so I decided to write a post on it.

`An online friend from Germany sent me a postcard and handwritten letter and a cute little teddy bear and her photo.

`Another online friend sent me a courier with a pretty dress material, a nice handwritten letter and some roli–chandan that has significance in Hindu rituals, as a wedding present. Her name happens to be Roli too.

In both the above cases, we have never met in person.. isn’t that out of the ordinary and special.

`A friend by name ‘gita’ presented me with ‘bhagwatgita’ the book.

Some gift ideas are very close to my heart. 3 such gifts (which I have given too) are

`a fish bowl

`an indoor plant in a chinaware

`travelling to another state for a single day to spend the birthday together, the first bday of spouse after we met. The gifting started there and is just going on. Sometimes the thoughts behind it is what makes it special, sometimes the shine of stones in the gift :P and sometimes the freshness and fragrance of those flowers coming in, in the middle of a night.

It doesn’t take me long however, to realize that the best gift that I can think of is what I gave myself. i.e. to get involved in the lookout for the guy I would marry, by making a profile on an online matrimonial site leading me to find the best for me..

Some time back, we were discussing ‘how marriages happen in India’ in a group with girls from India as well as places like Brazil and America. The concept of arranged marriages made them drop their jaws. They said they had heard of it but could never believe. Even the matrimonial sites they said was something new for them. Do they exist only in India? It was funny when we tried explaining them how all the criterion and filters are put in place in your profile. You get contacted by ppl who like ‘your profile’ and then things move further and one finds the partner n gets married.. Its weird and scary for them. But that’s how it happened for me. And the process was fun and full of experiences. While I met the guys suggested by family and their friends, I also got to know of many guys looking seriously for someone, through the net. The one I got married to within 6 months of having met through JS made the search and the time spent totally worthwhile. Not because he is perfect or I was. Because we are.. and life is beautiful with him.. Sounds cliché and how I wish he would not read this!! or maybe I should add something just in case he is reading it..

PS: only if he would not start singing n doing emotional atyachar at 10 every night to force me into switching off the laptop in order to sleep... ok, 10 is exaggeration make it 11, 12 or whatever!!!!

He says there is no point in moving into a bigger apartment coz he likes it how I am always around and to be seen in this studio. Smart ass ;)

God, bless us!