Another Diwali went by…
In the office a few gifts piled up on my table.
‘Sadly’ they came from our BEST partners…
Internally, I had allocation requests of moneys for gifts to be bought for our partners…
In the Marwari circuit, gifting as usual went crazy. Car and drivers clogged south mumbai ferrying gifts. Folks compared who got what and from whom…
Proud Marwari mother in laws fed guests saying ‘Eat this, its delicious – its from our daughter in law’s side’…
This Diwali Gifting Business makes me sick. And motivates me to vomit out this post…
WHY DO WE GIFT?
Historically, the pure innocence of buying a chocolate for a friend before meeting her or just gifting your lover a rose….(No strings on how big or how expensive)…That is what gifting was meant to be.
Now, if you examine the ’emotional’ quotient of Diwali Gifts…. was there any kind of LOVE or emotion involved?
The answer is NADA (zero).
Gifting is this context is BRIBING
Why do you BRIBE?
– When you are in the wrong (Flats in Adarsh society gifted to decision makers)
– When you are weak and need support (Government officers who need their bosses goodwill)
– When you have a bad product (Suppliers sending gifts to Companies to cover up shoddy products)
– When you are simply Subservient (Parents whose daughters are married to Marwari Men send gifts to their in-laws houses as a message – please take care of my daughter!!)
And to flip this:
– Does google bribe you to use its website?
– Does Apple pay you to buy its goods?
– Does Apple pay you to buy its goods?
– Does Jet Airways tell you to fly them for a free gift inside?
The best service providers and creators of VALUE never need to GIFT.
Coz their business is a GIFT to consumers in the first place.
And this begets the question – Why Diwali?
Its a nice convenient calendar date for the BRIBES to be exchanged. In fact in the Calendar it should be called Diwali ‘Bribe’ day.
So, how was your Diwali?
Please also read – https://rodinhood.com/Mr-Marwari-Have-you-met-Mr-Tata
Shiv Senthilvel
Hi Alok,
While i broadly agree with you, even secular companies like mine do diwali gifting as an aide memoir. We always send out something to eat (sweets, nuts et al) and typically the customers/suppliers call back to thank us for remembering them. Hardly a bribe as there are no strings attached ! I would buy you a beer or coffee if we met too. That said this year there was no gifting as no one had the time to do it 🙂 We will probably move it to the New year or Christmas.
shiv
Azhar Hasan
gr8 post.
Gaurang Bhatt
I think the bribe part of gift is directly proportional to the cost of gift.
bhanu
are you against bribes or gifting?
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
bhanu said:
Bhanu … I don’t like bribes, And enjoy only genuine gifts….those usually come from very very dear ones and well wishers….give without an agenda…like a parent gives a child…
Prajith Nayar
Indian realities….well west does in some even more weirder ways…funding college education through scholarships for senators childeren, soft dollar exchange in wall street between hedge funds and brokers, disconnected freebies included as product/service ancillaries, contributions to political parties and campaigns, equity investments managed very cleverly by colleagues either ex or future for heads of regulatory bodies, journalists giving bright coverage for a price paid through corporate honchos with apparently no connection to the public figure being covered, except oh yeah probabaly sharing a dorm room in law school etc etc etc.
Lets not be too harsh on parents who want well being of their girl child. Idealism comes to nought when your cherished daughter has to shed even a single teardrop specially when you are loaded and can actually do give a gift. Also I have heard, not seen, but heard many marriages in India are also a form of bribery or a form of joint ventures more than actual love. So obviously it needs investments after the intial seed funding as well.
…..Also an “Ewwwww” moment while reading your blog….comparing Jet Airways and Apple/Google. Impact of relative performance I guess. Iam not an avid traveler so I cant comment authoritatively. But Jet for me has never had a Aha moment….. ever.
Anirudh B Balotiaa
I will bump this post during when Diwali comes up! 🙂
BTW from where you got the iTunes gift card Alok? 😉