Love and piety decide value of a gift

A great festival brings both the best and the worst in man. One of the reasons why economy goes bubbling at this time is that people go on a spending spree. The 'shopaholics' in particular are so frenzied about their shopping that they have not simply learnt to put a brake on their lust for more. Money for them is no problem because in this country a section of people has at their disposal so much of this that they have to stash away a huge amount in several banks in faraway Switzerland. And you know, who do this and why.
When a shari or bollywood-cut crazy dress with crazier names goes for a fabulous amount ranging between Tk 100,000 and 300,000, in the local market, many an eye-brow is raised. But when the ultra-rich go for shopping in Singapore, Thailand or even England or the United States of America, how much each of the shoppers spend hardly makes news. They have the liberty and satisfaction to shop out of the media glare.
Clearly the size of the actual festival money gets underestimated. Even the beggars whose number rise double the one during normal time are accountable for an economy of a few hundred crore taka during the month of Ramadan. All because, people have too much money concentrated in this capital and other cities. Forget about the traditional alms of one fistful of rice or one or two poisas. Even a one-Taka coin or a two-Taka note is no more the standard. During this month in particular, a five-Taka note is the minimum and the usual practice is to hand over a ten-Taka note. In normal time, a beggar's earning varies between Tk 1,000 to 1,200 daily but in the month of Ramadan the amount goes well above Tk3,000 mark.
This is where religious sentiment and festival bring the maximum generosity out of a person. Shoppers spend on consumer goods but then general people turn generous either in parting with their savings or bonuses or giving away for the cause of charity. When money literally flies, it is the poor who beg or work hard to get a share, albeit a small one. The worst victim of this spending spree are the middle class and lower middle class and of course the poor who cannot allow them to submit to the indignity of begging. When prices of almost every item register an abnormal rise, their fixed or low incomes fall far short of matching their need for livelihoods.
People's unearned money plays a part in triggering the price hike and at the same time turns them a little more generous in giving away alms. But those who earn their honest bread struggle to meet the bare minimum demands of their families. Yet the best gift is often given at this level where the minimum is the most precious. Remember O Henry's (William Sydney Porter's pen name) short story, "The gift of the Magi" where the young married couple frenetically look for the last penny to buy a present for each other. They buy the most appropriate gifts -a chain for the husband's gold watch and a set of hair accessories (combs) for the young wife had beautiful long hair -only to discover that each had sacrificed their best possession -wife Della her hair and husband Jim his watch -to buy gifts for each other.
So it is not the loads of shopping that are important nor is the flaunting of wealth by giving in charity under the full glare of camera, rather giving from the heart is what counts. The bond of love and piety are too precious a possession that actually decides the value of a gift. Consumerism will never really know the joy of giving and accepting with thanks. Something will always be missing from an exchange where heart is absent. Life's calling is too sacred a mission to be undermined by commercialism and dilettantism.