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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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Presents : Necessity or not by Rikaza Hassan Today is Christmas, a religious festival that is celebrated by Christians all over the world. Tasty food will be prepared and eaten, jokes would will be told and laughed at in the presence of family and friends, but most awaited moment is the exchange of presents.
Roshani (18) believes that presents are a necessary evil. "I think that presents are a wonderful idea that people engage in during festivities, but I also feel that the true feeling of giving and receiving a present has been lost. Today people just buy presents as an obligation rather than as something they can enjoy by choosing that special something for each and everyone. I guess people just don't have the time." Since the boxing day tsunami disaster of last December, others have changed their minds about exchanging presents. "I paid a visit with a relief team right after the tsunami hit and have been going there once in a while. The devastation was terrible, but was worse was the fate of those who had lost all their possessions and had no means of recovering anything. I realised that instead of me spending thousands of rupees on buying presents for my kids alone, it was more worthwhile to use it to help the victims of the tsunami. This year my wife and I presented the money to a relief group. We explained it to the kids and even they understood. We all feel much better than if we had just bought presents for ourselves. After all we are continuing to lead our normal lives whereas they don't even have a semblance of normalcy amongst them." Yet others defer the exchange of presents for other reasons. Azam, 21 is one of those. "I don't believe in exchanging in presents for festivals. I've told my family I want nothing and that they will not be getting anything from me either. I think the whole idea is stupid because if you want to get something for someone you do and if you don't you don't. There is absolutely no point in buying someone a present because you have to, there is no love behind it but obligation." His pal Matthew (23) agrees wholeheartedly. "I believe in the christmas resistance movement and I practise its policies. I don't buy or take presents as well as resist other Christmassy stuff. The entire celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is commercialised completely and people simply play to the companies' tunes. There's more to religion than forcing people to buy presents for people they may not even like." And then there are the die-hard traditionalists, the kind that simply would not even think of no presents. "You have got to be kidding me!" said Ashwini with a look of horror when asked if she would consider not exchanging presents. "It's a very important part of any festival. I celebrate Avurudu and we always buy new clothes and little presents for each other. It's like welcoming the new year with a vow to be together as a family. I would never consider stopping the exchange of presents. It's unthinkable." So which category do you fall into, Grouch, goody-Two-Shoes or Realist? |
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Not only at Christmas but at other festivals, from Avurudu to Ramazan
to Deepavali and others, close family members buy each other presents. But
are presents a necessary part of the celebrations or simply a tradition
that is to be gotten rid of? The Oomph magazine got on to the streets to
find out. 
