Shopping ...........

Every year, at Christmas, i give my house help a saree and some sort of a bonus. With the bandhs the whole month of december, i couldnt get this done on time. I have two ladies working for me, Renuka is the cook who makes our breakfast and lunch, she's been with me since for about 6 months, and Devi who does the other housework and has been with me for 3 years now. On christmas day, i just gave them cake and the special preparations and the bonus, and asked for time to give them the sarees. They got all giddy and giggly and said i can take my time.... i surely took them seriously!! Today after work, i set out to shop. I landed up at one of those huge malls within a store type of places.... to save me the bother of searching for something appropriate and finding many choices under the same roof.

i always face this dilemma when i buy stuff for them. how does one choose for someone who does household work.... what kinds of clothes would they like to buy /wear considering most of them manage with what they get as hand me downs from their employers rather than new clothes from the store....what colours should i choose... the ones i wear are considered dull and drab by them....what material....and how much should i spend....i dont want to give them something cheap, just for the sake of giving them.... but something that they will wear and feel happy in.... is this all too much?

i picked up a couple of those embellished sarees with all the sequins in it. (because i know Devi loves them)..then i moved on to another counter where i saw some "fake kanchi" sarees and felt they would be better suited in terms of maintenance and wear-ability and also since i took the sequinned route last year... i settled on three. (one for the lady who sweeps the corridors and stairs and also is my backup maid).... also bought a gold plated mangalsutra for one cos the one she is currently wearing is held together with more safety pins than chain.....and a set of 4 bangles for the other so she wont feel she got a bad deal....

i will present them tomorrow. Honestly i feel as anxious as any of the other times when i hope the gift i have chosen is well liked.....

oh and the coloured plastic baskets are for myself!! i had to pay myself a commission after all!! Also one hell of a soft blanket for K because he loves his blankets and the current razai is taking up too much space on our bed.... plus it was on discount!!