“It’s a cool evening and I have finished cooking the dinner. With nothing else to do, but to wait for hubby dearest to return home, I move to the balcony to enjoy the cool breeze. My eyes keep moving to the main gate to see if I can spot my husband’s car making its way to the parking lot. I keep wondering if he would remember the special day. I am not so sure if he would, but nevertheless I do not lose my hopes. And all of a sudden two hands spring up on my sides and a silk saree (with exactly the same design and color combination that I wanted) drops into my hands. I am stunned and when I look around, I see him smiling smugly at me. I just run into his arms for a tight embrace and we just stand like that for what seemed like an eternity”.
When I came back to my senses, I was lying in my bed. It was close to midnight and the TV was playing some nice Ilayaraja melodies from the 80’s - No wonder. What else could have had such a balmy effect on me? I realize that my husband is late yet again and I had dozed off waiting for him. My mind vaguely remembers the dream that I had. After all it was a dream…..just a dream (obviously, how else can a husband get a saree for his wife with the exact design and color combination that she wanted????? Even in dreams I don’t think they would have paid attention to their wife’s remarks about the Saree Ad while engrossed in their laptop/TV). But that’s how I always imagined and want it to be. It might be a bit filmy but I am so besotted by this idea of a surprise gift and the gift being something which you yearned for so much. And with the filmy touch to it nothing can get more romantic than this as far as I am concerned. It doesn’t matter how I ask him – request, yell, shout, fight, cry or beg for unabashedly, he just doesn’t get the point. It makes more sense to him that I tell him what I want and then we go to a shop and buy it for me and he pays for it. That ways I get what I want and he pays for it, so technically it’s still a gift from him to me and everyone is happy. The purchase might as well happen on the weekend just after the special day – it’s nevertheless a gift to celebrate the special day so it doesn’t matter whether you buy it on that day or any other day. I eventually learned to accept that his idea of gifts were way different from mine – both in respect of giving and receiving.
It was a frustrating day in office and when I came back I saw that our room was in a complete mess. There were clothes lying around everywhere, both the personal and official laptops were lying close to each other in bed at a stupid angle, bill envelopes, books, cell phone, mobile chargers etc. Along with the mess lay a plastic bag with a CD pouch containing 8 – 10 CD’s. I thought this must be one his software CD’s and put them in the shelf to where it belonged. The next day morning however I was surprised when hubby dearest asked for this bag. Now it’s not uncommon for him to strew things around but to ask for them the next day is definitely strange. And then with a mocking smile he said “being the “Monica-kind-of-cleanliness” freak that you are I hope you have not trashed them off. I was completely bowled over. And then he showed me the contents of the bag. It had all the 10 seasons of “friends”. My joy knew no bounds. I always wanted to own the entire collection. I wouldn’t miss a single episode on TV even though they were re-telecast zillion times. Even if his favorite program was on TV he made sure I watched the episodes un-interrupted and it definitely was not one of his favorites. He never said it was a gift and neither did he create a melodrama (translated: my idea of giving a gift) when he gave it to me. But gift to me it was. And then I realized yet again that his idea of gifts were way different from mine – both in respect of giving and receiving - Whether it was bringing home a Cadbury daily milk bar which his colleagues had given him because he remembered that I don’t prefer any other chocolate other than dairy milk or buy a converter cord that would connect the laptop to our LCD so that I can watch my favorite movies on the 32” big screen in the leisure and comfort of my bed or burn all episodes of friends in CD’s so that I can have my own collection to watch it whenever I felt like it.
Those were his appreciation of my desires – however trivial they might be and isn’t that what gifts are supposed to be? Token of love, appreciation and affection for the person you love or cherish? Only that his gifts were not wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a huge pink bow on top and given to me in the most filmy way imaginable. And not celebrating our love on a special day didn’t make it any less special. In fact it made me feel extremely special and happy. And now I know for sure that I have the greatest gift of my life.
When I came back to my senses, I was lying in my bed. It was close to midnight and the TV was playing some nice Ilayaraja melodies from the 80’s - No wonder. What else could have had such a balmy effect on me? I realize that my husband is late yet again and I had dozed off waiting for him. My mind vaguely remembers the dream that I had. After all it was a dream…..just a dream (obviously, how else can a husband get a saree for his wife with the exact design and color combination that she wanted????? Even in dreams I don’t think they would have paid attention to their wife’s remarks about the Saree Ad while engrossed in their laptop/TV). But that’s how I always imagined and want it to be. It might be a bit filmy but I am so besotted by this idea of a surprise gift and the gift being something which you yearned for so much. And with the filmy touch to it nothing can get more romantic than this as far as I am concerned. It doesn’t matter how I ask him – request, yell, shout, fight, cry or beg for unabashedly, he just doesn’t get the point. It makes more sense to him that I tell him what I want and then we go to a shop and buy it for me and he pays for it. That ways I get what I want and he pays for it, so technically it’s still a gift from him to me and everyone is happy. The purchase might as well happen on the weekend just after the special day – it’s nevertheless a gift to celebrate the special day so it doesn’t matter whether you buy it on that day or any other day. I eventually learned to accept that his idea of gifts were way different from mine – both in respect of giving and receiving.
It was a frustrating day in office and when I came back I saw that our room was in a complete mess. There were clothes lying around everywhere, both the personal and official laptops were lying close to each other in bed at a stupid angle, bill envelopes, books, cell phone, mobile chargers etc. Along with the mess lay a plastic bag with a CD pouch containing 8 – 10 CD’s. I thought this must be one his software CD’s and put them in the shelf to where it belonged. The next day morning however I was surprised when hubby dearest asked for this bag. Now it’s not uncommon for him to strew things around but to ask for them the next day is definitely strange. And then with a mocking smile he said “being the “Monica-kind-of-cleanliness” freak that you are I hope you have not trashed them off. I was completely bowled over. And then he showed me the contents of the bag. It had all the 10 seasons of “friends”. My joy knew no bounds. I always wanted to own the entire collection. I wouldn’t miss a single episode on TV even though they were re-telecast zillion times. Even if his favorite program was on TV he made sure I watched the episodes un-interrupted and it definitely was not one of his favorites. He never said it was a gift and neither did he create a melodrama (translated: my idea of giving a gift) when he gave it to me. But gift to me it was. And then I realized yet again that his idea of gifts were way different from mine – both in respect of giving and receiving - Whether it was bringing home a Cadbury daily milk bar which his colleagues had given him because he remembered that I don’t prefer any other chocolate other than dairy milk or buy a converter cord that would connect the laptop to our LCD so that I can watch my favorite movies on the 32” big screen in the leisure and comfort of my bed or burn all episodes of friends in CD’s so that I can have my own collection to watch it whenever I felt like it.
Those were his appreciation of my desires – however trivial they might be and isn’t that what gifts are supposed to be? Token of love, appreciation and affection for the person you love or cherish? Only that his gifts were not wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a huge pink bow on top and given to me in the most filmy way imaginable. And not celebrating our love on a special day didn’t make it any less special. In fact it made me feel extremely special and happy. And now I know for sure that I have the greatest gift of my life.
