The Art of Giving

We are always happy to receive something for free from others. Aren’t we? Is there any happiness in giving away our things to others? While even the thought of receiving a trivial gift gives us immense pleasure, the thought of parting with something does not seem to bring any happiness in our mind. Some of us are willing to give away ā thing or two to others but then there might be some expectations in return. We even expect our donations (to charitable institutions etc) to fetch us some Income tax relief. Incidentally, I remember our neighbour who always seems to be very nice to the watchman of our apartment and offers him coffee, food and some other things. But then, the neighbour makes sure that he gets all his errands and domestic help done by the watchman. Not much needs to be mentioned about politicians, who blatantly give away freebies to their voters, we know what for. Interestingly, there are some of us who are willing to live with many of the old stuff for ever, occupying huge space at home, only to be bequeathed unwelcomingly for generations to come. I remember one of my teenaged cousin, who has archived all his text books, homework notebooks, first bicycle, childhood toys and what not. I think that we hoard so many things at home; unmindful of the fact that, some of that stuff should find its way out to the needy and some other might better remain in the shelves of shops (there would have not been a real need to purchase in the first place).

I have always wondered what motivated people like “Karna” of Mahabharata fame, who gave so much to people, and King “Sibi”, who gave his own flesh to help a pigeon. There must have been some blissful feeling about it. The other day I was cleaning my cupboard to make way for some new clothes and after much pondering, I finally decided to give away (to get rid of, so to say) some old clothes which were not fitting me anymore and also they had lost their sheen (and some buttons too). Without the knowledge of my women folk at home (because they usually exchange all old clothes for new vessels for future generations), I walked down the road to give the stuff to someone who really needed it. I approached ā poor family who lived on the platform and hesitatingly offered them, doubting if they would accept old clothes. Almost snatching away the bag from me and with their eyes gleaming in happiness, they thanked me profusely and “blessed” me with ā long life. For ā moment, I experienced ā kind of strange “happiness”, a feeling which I never had before. I could not imagine how they would have reacted if I had bought them new clothes of their own choice. Only then I discovered that there is certain happiness in giving things but then we need to experience it in order to realise it.

I hold a friend of mine in high esteem, who always says that we should give away only those stuff which are in ā usable condition and also it is better not to give things to known people because we might be reminded of our gesture whenever we meet them. The wise sage Thiruvalluvar, who wrote 10 poems (kurals) on this subject, has said in one of those “To give to the destitute is true charity. All other gifts have the nature of ā measured return”. In today’s world, it is almost impossible to play a “Karna” or “Sibi” and practice the art of giving but we can definitely emulate them in our own way by parting with those trivial things, atleast to save some space at home!