The Gift of Magi

We love tragic romantic stories , like the gift of the Magi .

She had long hair , but no ornamental comb . He had a gold watch , but no platinum chain . She sold her hair to buy him a chain  , while he sold his watch to buy her a comb . And on Christmas eve , they put away their no longer useful gifts , and rightly upheld the true beauty of love .

Maybe I have no business to take a sarcastic note on this story during Christmas . My only arguments will be to discuss how valid is this story in today’s world .

(Of course , when I say “world” , I only speak of the young and thriving IT population around me .)

I draw a parallel to this story befitting today’s environment .

Smart , beautiful and brand crazy Della really loved dressing up and looking her best . With every dress , she loved to have a matching bag and sandals to go with it .

For Christmas eve , Jim , her fiancé , decided to get her a gift – and he knew just the right thing to buy . He spent hours surfing website after website until he found the thing he knew would make her happy .

Come Christmas , and the gift arrived – neatly wrapped in red and golden . Della  was thrilled to know that a present awaited her . Joyously , filled with eagerness , she tore at the wrappings . When it was finally opened , her face fell . It was a limited edition gold plated Titan Raga watch .

“Oh Jim ! You KNOW I do not wear yellow metal . Couldn’t you have gifted me a cool fast track watch ? At least tell me I can exchange this for a better one !”

Forget the effort involved in choosing a beautiful watch that would look good on her . Forget the amount spent over her gift . Even more , forget the disappointment poor Jim underwent when he was told that his  gift wasn’t good enough for her !

(In a way , this is the exact reason how all branded stores make business . They entice you to buy vouchers rather than goods , and when spending vouchers the human mind tends to forget its direct relation to money)

This is how tragic the gift of Magi gets in the present day world .

While the old story has no correlation to the modern day world , isn’t it about time we stopped narrating it our kids ?

Isnt it time we realize that it has reached its expiry , deem it outdated , and dispose of it ?

Well , NO IT ISNT !

If anything , I would say it is time we started narrating this story more often than ever !.

The gift of Magi is truly a beautiful story  , the core of which tells us to value love more than any material possessions .

What would you rather have rejected ? Your gift , or the love and thought that went behind choosing it for you ?

THAT is the difference between the old story and the new one .

-Deepika