ON BEING A GIFT AND A GIFT WRAPPER
Most of us
give or get occasional gifts on birthdays, weddings, anniversaries or festivals.
The gifts are wrapped in bright sparkling wrappers. No matter how bright and
sparkling the wrapper may be, it does not form part of the gift. In fact the receiver,
mostly children, anxious to know what lies inside the packet, tears away the
wrapper mercilessly and dumps it in the waste paper basket. As we should not judge a book by its cover we
should not judge a gift by its wrapper. Its job is to wrap the gift. It cannot
add value to the gift itself. The value of the gift is judged by the receiver.
There are
many types of wrappers. Have you ever seen the heavily made up actors and
celebrities without make up? This make
up wrapper not only hides the wrinkles or the hardened skin but also hides
their emotions too. This also makes them fearful to present themselves in
public without make up. It can be very depressing but it is not created by the
wrapper. It is self created.
In our day
to day life we come across people wrapped in various shades of wrappers. There
was this song from a Hindi movie ‘ek chehare pe kai chehare laga lete hain log’
(people wear many faces over a face). They wear masks to hide their true faces.
The smile on their faces hides their true feelings. The words they utter may
mean exactly the opposite. It is only after the false wrapper is removed that
the truth comes out. The only problem is that unlike what we do with wrappers
on the gift packets, we cannot tear their wrappers of falsehood apart. It is in
the interest of both, the giver and the receiver, that decency is maintained.
In fact it is a norm than exception to let the deception flourish. Calling a
spade a spade is not considered civic.
And then who
can forget the only wrapper, the creator preserved us with for full nine
months. All of us were presented to this world in a beautiful wrapper. The
wrapper was carefully removed and the gift inside opened in the presence of all
concerned. Everyone danced with divine joy. The gift passed from hands to
hands.
IT WAS NOW
FOR THE GIFT TO PROVE ITS WORTH. WILL IT? THE WRAPPER COULD DO THIS MUCH ONLY.
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