Reporter's Diary: ‘Cashing’ in on the festive spirit of gifting

Contractors and small vendors take turns to queue up outside officers’ chambers, a few even show up at their houses, to distribute gifts of different sizes and cost. 

The only difference this year is that the colourful boxes don’t have crackers or dry fruit, but are stuffed with cash. The cash denominations were said to be ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 per box based on the position of the officer in the pecking order. 

When this reporter casually asked an officer about these cash ‘gifts’, it came to light that some officers’ spouses were unim pressed with the colour of the silk sarees they were gifted last year and hence, gifts were replaced with cash. “Even at weddings, people give cash gifts, so what’s wrong with giving cash for Deepavali?” he asked. 

However, a few forthright officers who were approached with gifts not only declined them, but also sent out messages advising their colleagues to not ‘succumb’ to expensive offers. 

One such message doing rounds in the railway headquarters read, “In this sultry heat of Chennai, some people distributed blankets along with sweet packets to some of my staff and officers. They call them Deepavali gifts. Why just blankets? Why not cots and mattresses too?,” the exasperated officer who authored the message wondered. — K Karthikeyan, Chennai