Celebrating Diwali Gifting Week (DGW) - Gift 1

This Diwali is a time for me to remember all the people whose help I usually take for granted. I see them often, they do stuff for me, but I don't think of them much thereafter. So I made a list of such people and intend to give some token or gift, with a hope that they would like it and if not, at least appreciate the thought behind it!

The watchman of my grandfather's building is an elderly chap, who always has a bright smile on his face whenever he sees us. We stayed in the building only for a couple of weeks in Feb 2008. This guy is courteous and ready to help with carrying bags or even just parking the car or opening the gates. He always looks so cheerful that you just can't help but smile right back :-) even if you aren't in the best of moods.

I recently saw him after a very long time (I don't know the other guys, there are rotation of duties) and enquired after his family. He said he has 2 grandchildren - a boy and a girl under 10 who go to school. I decided to try and get them something as a token gift although I have not seen them and do not know anything about them. It would have seemed odd to ask him and then he would be certain I have a plan and if I couldn't meet his expectations, I would feel bad so just left it as a casual inquiry.

A day later while shopping at a supermarket, I found some cute notepads - I love stationery of all kinds - and was looking through them when I came across a bunch of coloring books. As a child I would spend hours with colouring books, crayons and sketch pens etc. So picked up 2 of them for the watchman's 2 grandkids - 1 each, lest they fight! They were only about Rs.25 each.

In the next shelf were a pile of notebooks, with not too many pages. But I was captivated by the covers. The covers had photographs of animals and their young ones and info on the inside front and back pages about the animals, their habitats, food habits etc. It was attractive to look at and also educative. The icing on the cake was these notebooks were made of ecofriendly material called bagasse and recycled waste material, not paper. They had a cute little green coloured stamp saying "100% ecofriendly and biodegradable" on them. I bought 2 books - couldn't believe the price - Rs. 5 each!!

Next day I visited granddad and in a bag, collected these books for the watchman's grandkids, plus a Fab India kurta that is fairly new and in good condition for him, a new blouse material and some supari, haldi kumkum for his daughter, and offered it to him. He grabbed it without any questions or even knowing what was inside! He was all smiles though!! :-) Hope they liked it, would love to get more - maybe after I get feedback about what they really liked/like.