To The Magi In Us

 If one asks which is your favourite month in a year, my daughter, without the blink of an eye, would call for the Christmas season, the season of joy and cakes, Santa and presents. To top it off she has the holiday season culminating with her birthday which falls in mid Jan. 

The ritual of putting up the Christmas tree was something I had begun meticulously long back in an annual attempt to recreate my dream Christmas tree.

I might have been six, seven or even younger when I tagged along to Sanjoe Hospital, Perumbavoor to visit some sick relative. Though I have only a bleak memory of who the sick person was I can even now vividly describe the Christmas tree that was put out in the hospital lobby. The tree towering over me with its beautiful decorations and the gifts under had remained in my mind over the years. I wanted to have one just like that at my place. My day came years later when I could spare some money out of  the monthly allowance of  Rs.1000/- the college generously offered us every month, the terribly underpaid guest lecturers, while I worked as one in Union Christian College, Aluva. back in 2003.

I have tried hard to pass on my passion to my children as an inheritance and when my son was three years of age I adventurously started the tradition of putting gifts under the tree. A tradition innocently started. gone out of hand over time! 

Thus by the time my daughter was a three year old she was scared to leave the house on the Christmas night lest Santa would not be able to find her and deliver the gifts she wished for. She made a list of things she wanted which was never revealed to any of us family members but only to Santa  making the in-house elf go hyper alert 24/7 during the season starting from the month of November, looking for hidden clues, glimmering eyes when the brother and sister engage in casual talks... Santa could get them right almost every year and also drop-ship them on time wherever they were.  

Thus Santa delivered the presents at the Marthoma Retreat Center, Munnar and once he even went all the way to Delhi. She did hang the stockings promptly with her brother every time without fail. However this year was an exception with the Covid 19 changing its name and image to Omicron, Delta and Deltacron and the schools closing just the previous day of Christmas Santa could deliver his presents only by New Year!! 

Surprisingly our girl was not at all disheartened which makes me think of the time when she was heartbroken as Santa got it all messed up with his super vigilant elf as the  culprit .  

Our little girl was in tears that day and none of us could figure out why. Though she was repeating amidst the tears that she had asked for 'Princes' we wondered what was the issue as she did get the 'Princess' she wanted. It took us some time to decipher the whole issue. 

Apparently she had wished for three Princes or expected to receive at least two. Of the six or seven dolls she had, the eldest three had grown up over the years and had reached marriageable age. So she wanted to marry them off to worthy suitors. She had made elaborate preparations for the wedding - venue booked,  priests delegated to officiate the ceremony, invitations send to all other toys, menu planned, caterers arranged, the whole party was scheduled except for the grooms. No wonder the girl was broken hearted when she opened the presents. Not only did she get any grooms, not even a single one, but was also stuck with one more doll to be married off soon.

The problem was resolved to some extend when she got one Prince for her birthday.  She could finally marry off at least one of her Barbies. The Barbie did get a gala wedding a week or so later which all the other toys went to and all was well in the end.

Ken and his new bride after the wedding with the bride's maids

 in their special wedding caravan

Speaking of gifts I had been overtly blessed to be on the receiving end. As a young girl I had been showered with gifts by almost all my neighbors, who went to gulf. Whenever they came for vacations they had something or the other for me. It could be a frock, some pencils, eraser, scale, dolls, a make up set ….Then there were my friends who didn't even need a special occasion to gift me with something special. 

I did not know anything about Santa Clause or his elves but my uncles and big sisters were my special Santas always surprising me with gifts. They showered me with frocks and toys, bangles and beads, which came from all over the world....from the Queen's island and the streets of Mumbai to the local stalls of Kurupampady church ground, Shivarathrimanapuram and Vaikkattashtami. 

Gifts that range from stickers and bangles to video games and view master...cherished equally

I owe my flair for writing to my big sister who introduced me to the world of letters which stretched from  Ukrainian folk tales to the letters a father wrote to his daughter from jail.

Of the multitude of gifts I received the one which started out as a boon soon turning in to a bane was the steel box my grandmother gifted me as my school going gift when I went to LKG at the mellow age of three. The shiny steel box with my name engraved on it in excellent cursive which I carried with me in pride had became an eye-sore the very next year when all other children came to school with brand new boxes and some with new trending school bags. 

I wanted a new one too, preferably a "shoulder "bag  as was the trend. But whatever I did the steel box refused to break and my parents would not buy me another one unless this one broke. I remember the endless torture the poor thing had to endeavor at my ruthless hands over the years in an effort to break the steel menace, it had become by that time. I watched in desperation children carrying new bags year after year, some even in the middle of the school year when I carried my old steel box. My respite came years later in class four when the box could not be closed due to the sheer number of books we had to carry to school. Yet I had to wait till the next year to get a proper school bag.

It seems I have a thing for boxes and treasure troves. My most cherished birthday gifts, in fact gift of all times, is the 'arippetti' my father gifted me on my seventh birthday. But then my father is a man of immense foresight. He knows what a little girl is really in need off. Its not toys or glitters, bangles or tutu skirts but big wooden trunk that could store heaps of rice she could cook one day. 

I was thrilled to get my birthday gift, custom made by our family carpenter out of the wood of jackfruit tree. I imagined arranging my school books and the few cloths and toys I had in its two compartments. I was a little disappointed when it was put in the store room near the kitchen and not in one of the bedrooms as I had fancied it would go. But it did not dissuade me from carrying out the enterprise of shifting to the storeroom with all my stuff which included even my three pillows, Simon, Pete and Paul. I could use the trunk top as a study table while at work and a bedding while I rested. Such grand scheme of things!

It took some time for me to grasp my dad's argument that rice is more important than books and toys. But this did not dishearten me or curb my enthusiasm in any amount and I proudly showed off my treasured gift to every guest who happened to grace my home in the next few weeks and months describing how thoughtful is my hero, my dad, to gift me with such a fabulous present for my birthday.

Yes indeed each of those presents were fabulous in their own way. They lit up the minds and spirits no matter whether they were the ones  we wished for or the ones we haven't even thought of in the wildest of our dreams. They could be a broken bangle or a chalk piece, the picture of the Pope or a chocolate wrapper crafted into a girl...we could have got them on Christmas or on birthdays or on an ordinary day made special by the gift itself. As O Henry says, "Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise. Everywhere they are the wise ones. They are the magi."

The steel box is now my treasure trove holding my other precious gifts, the glittery papers, chocolate wrappers, shinny stones as well as  the treasures of my two kids, thus turning itself  in to a family heirloom.  You should know it is sparking still, in spite of all it bore, it refuses to break.       

the steel menace turned family heirloom with its treasures - Pope John Paul II a gift from 1986

  

And yes even all these years could not chop down the big scheme of things I had for my 'arripetti.' It majestically adores my living room as a coffee table with the compartments turned in to the storehouse of my stationary items and reading books, just as had been planned when I was a seven year old...

on proud display

P.S. - There are many more gifts that weren't mentioned and magi who spun their magic in me. I just want to pay my tribute to all those that could not find a mention in the write up. It just brought back my memories of Ravi Chettan, our maison who had every year brought back a packet of cotton candy from Shivaratri even after I was all grown up till his death. Love you!!