Season of gifts

ASHA NEHEMIAH

Gifts are an excellent, wordless way of telling people how much they mean to us or what we think of them. The kings of ancient Siam had a rather unusual way of telling a troublesome courtier that they were displeased with him. They would actually present the unfortunate noblemen with a most valuable gift - a white elephant. This was an expensive but extremely effective form of

punishment. The elephant would be a constant burden on the nobleman, as it would require to be fed large amounts. Since white elephants are considered sacred, the poor nobleman would not be able to put the animal to work. Neither could he risk offending the king by selling off the gift. The king's gift would finally ruin the nobleman and leave him penniless. This has subsequently given rise to the term "a white elephant" to indicate any object that makes us spend on its upkeep without being of the slightest use.

In India, exchanging gifts and sweets is customary at festival times like Christmas and Diwali. Often this is done as a habit, without the giver even pausing to think about it. It is not unusual for lists of names to be drawn up and cards and sweets sent to all the people on the list.

Many years ago, the Italian composer Puccini had done the same. He had placed a standing order with the best baker in the city asking that a fruit cake be sent to each of his friends at Christmas. One year, Puccini quarrelled with his friend, the conductor Toscanini. The quarrel went on for months and when Christmas arrived, Puccini suddenly remembered that a cake would be sent to Toscanini on his behalf. He rushed to the baker's shop only to find that the cake had just been dispatched.

Annoyed at this and determined to show Toscanini that the quarrel was not yet over, Puccini scribbled a note to him: "Cake sent by mistake". When he saw the messenger returning with something, Puccini felt a childish satisfaction that his cake was being returned. What the messenger brought back, however, was not the cake, but a mischievous note from Toscanini saying, "Cake eaten by mistake."

Some people have the privilege of demanding the sort of gifts they would like to receive. Queen Victoria was so enchanted when she read "Alice in Wonderland" that she took the liberty of writing an appreciative note to Lewis Carroll. In her beautiful ornate handwriting, the Queen,mentioned that she would be most pleased to receive any other work by the same pen. At that time Charles Dodgson (for that was Lewis Carroll's real name) had not yet written the sequel to Alice or any of his poems or novels. Yet he wanted to oblige his queen. The next day Queen Victoria was surprised to receive one of the other works Caroll had penned - Dodgson's Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry. The queen had not realised that the author of Alice was also a mathematician.

Some gifts are simple but cost the giver a great deal and are therefore cherished more by the recipient. Above all the diamonds and opulent jewels she received as a wedding gift, Queen Elizabeth II is said to have valued a special personal gift from the Mahatma. It was a plain white shawl knit from the yarn spun by Gandhi himself.

Of course, there are people who give lavish gifts that do not cost them anything. The most cheeky of these was probably the famous Spanish painter Salvador Dali. He breezed into a bookshop in New York and asked for a copy of his own book The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.

"Have you read this book?" Dali asked the salesman, thumbing through the copy he was shown. Flattered, the salesman replied that he had not.

"Then take this," Dali replied most magnanimously and pushed the book across the counter, adding, "It is my gift to you. Would you like me to autograph it for you?"

The salesman was delighted and Dali autographed the copy with his usual flourish.

It was only when the great artist left the store did the salesman realise that he had not paid for the book. And so the poor salesman ended up having to pay for his own gift.

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