[Sudheer Poppa]

Someone sent a reminder mail about the gift which was posted some days back, resulting in a day wary sudheer having to open the post box (a first by itself) before jumping on to the lift @ the apartment.. But when the box was opened, was inside a rather beeeg envelop almost stuffed into the rather limited size of the box making sudheer to be confused between happiness for getting the gift and concerned worry over having mistakenly opened someone else's post box. Then with a rather apt ‘loud’ address on the cover, happiness took over hand in hand with a wondrous child like feeling...

But then in the lift or elevator as some others call it, the previous rather pressing feeling in stomach was poking its terrible nails around the uncomfortable sections. By the time, the lift reached the sixth floor - sounding and feeling like being pulled up by secret slaves hiding somewhere in the building - the fact that sender works for UNICEF was revealed. As soon as the door was open, priority had to be given to the tuna which was revolting from within.. But after those few tumultuous moments, peace returned and the package which was hastily placed on the couch taken with a due respect and awe..

The pack was one last time scrutinized for the feel of the contents with half hearted efforts to guess the contents - though the same was clearly written in the customs declaration form in the envelop. Amidst assumptions on why the candy was not feeling hard, the package was being opened. The first reaction on the view of interior was a rather uncivilized call of excitement seeing the soft mushroom like candies - of whose innumerable predecessors where consumed in the bygone years, with no time or effort wasted on knowing their name. A few seconds were invested in nostalgia with the candies while the kiddo sudheer was eager on the hidden second half of the envelop! This was being promptly investigated by putting the hands inside the envelop by the touch-feel routine for continued guessing. With no real indicators emerging, it was dawned to the hand that other sensors like eyes, nose and tongue might be able to help out and hence bought that part out of the envelop.

A rather mysterious package came out in the open which was not really offering much support with regards to the assumptions, guesses and learned predictions that were being attempted all this while. It was decision time for sudheer. He was faced with a tough choice!!
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To eat a candy now or to wait till the second pack is revealed? While time was not on his side and he had to make the decision, and he had to get it right.. In the next few microseconds, he made the decision. To gobble up a candy first, and then to continue unraveling the mystery. The next few seconds were dedicated to the chocolate mushroom and its softness being unleashed to vastness of sudheer mouth. While researching on the wrapper, he realized that cocoa in this mushroom was a bit grainy as against the soft creaminess associated with other better known concoctions of the same. There was a brief debate on if it was a planned grainyness coming from centuries of improvisation on the secret art of mushroom candies (passed on to the eldest member of the next generation by word of mouth only) or a result of unrealistic expectations of a factory supervisor driving his cocoa stirrers into a impossible timelines associated with Christmas deliveries or rather reducing the minimum time set for a huge mechanical stirrer in a vast assembly line based on beta version of a new production planning software...

A sudden gust of logic that materialize out of nowhere, convinced sudheer that the outcome of debate is of no importance, especially given the task at hand.... Unraveling the content of the mystery packed in gift paper lying a few inches from the tip of the finger, which Americans usually call fingertips. Once the mind is in the right path, there is no stopping it..

The wrapper was carefully opened ensuring it was not torn anywhere. It took only a few seconds to open it, revealing a net like wrapping inside alongside a Christmas card. Given the fact that receiving cards has not been a recent experience, the card was not given the required importance till a few moments later, as it took that long to realize the existence of paper cards. Not much a surprise coming from a mind which was mostly set by ecards, emails and a rather successful alienation from the traditional societies. The card was opened and a very intensely serious cat was looking at me with the background of a lot of fish bones (or shall I say skeletons) and smaller cat similarly intense cat faces.

While mind was discussing the tradition of cards and digitization, the pack was being moved out of the net like pack, which was previously only seen in egg wrapping. The first set of blackish soft pack wrapping came off to reveal yet another within. With more inquisitiveness, triggered through the countless Hollywood and soaps that has played similar images, the second wrapping was opened to reveal a cute cat with a banner almost held high with the words "Sudheer - have you fried my fish? CAT (with two cute paws)". Sudheer started laughing out!! Now we know the intense look for the cat in the card and skeletons. In hindsight, even the revolting tuna seemed to fit perfectly in the scheme of events – though was not planned/influenced by the sender.

Once the gift was revealed, an apt place was identified in the gift corner of the showcase at home. Slightly above was another place for the card which was placed with some effort to have the best view from the couch. Somewhere in between was also made, a decision to keep the wrappers of the candies collected in the package of the candy with a nice bell on it, with it later finding another spot in the rustic showcase. While the decision was to eat one candy a day, so as to stretch the pleasant feel of the gift much longer.. with the number of candies that have disappeared in the first few hours, he had to fall back on the earlier resolution to have no resolutions in this festive season.

Sudheer was happy! Really happy to see the cat, even happier to read the banner and rather surprised at the linkage between the stomach – the card - and the gift.. However all the pressure of gift and the related stress around it (not to mention the tuna trouble), had taken a toll on him and he was tired. He decided to retire to bed, ponder a while and maybe take a short nap as well.

While looking back to a rather short life of 29 years, he could not really remember any similar incidents like receiving Christmas gift et al.. Hence, for the next half hour or so he was under the impression that this was the very first Christmas gift he received. But in the bed, more than what looked like an hour later.. he remembered getting a book of Paulo Coelho in the Christmas of 2004 which now resulted in the day's adventure being the second Christmas gift he received... But that incident was more immediate and direct with no tension/debate/mystery/anticipation/climax around it.

Much later in the day and a few more cookies later he realized yet another instance of a secret Santa giving him gift, which he could hardly remember, as it was part of an office game a year or so earlier.

Who says it’s a crime to grow up not receiving presents at Christmas. The whole maturity thing around getting your first real Christmas gift when you are twenty nine, takes it to the next level. Or is it the temporary loss of the maturity thing?

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and rediscovering the joys around a festival like this can gift you.

[dzibead]

    

[Yashodhara]

Haha, this is very funny, sudheer! Are you sure this was a CHOCOLATE mushroom ?

[Sudheer Poppa]

Okay Yash... Did some research for you and found out a similar creation exists in the western world called marshmallow. But the eatern one is made out of rice flour with a filling inside. You wouldnt miss it if you travel to China or chinese cultures ..

[iwanttogoback]

chocolate marshmallow mushrooms...

crikey sudheer, what a great present.