Getting married, getting smarter.

So the tradition of tying the knot hasn't changed, but i'm glad to see that as more and more people get married, they're getting more intelligent about the gifts they want. Cutlery and Gods will always be a classic, yes. What's fuddy duddy now are:
- Clocks (i remember counting 20 wall clocks for my aunt's wedding a decade or more ago, and then a dozen for my cousin's wedding a handful of years back, and now none at my friends' weddings!)
- Murals / wall hangings, the kind that show two people kissing, animals grazing on fields, horses, Krishna with his entourage of women, kids playing and etc.

What couples these days are opting for:
- Money: this one's always been there too, but always restricted only to people who don't know you so well. (That should explain why most envelopes only had 101 rupees in them.) These days, couples prefer money from everyone so they can do whatever they want with it. At H's wedding, he asked everyone to give him and bride O, money. They made quite a killing in the end and went on their honeymoon with it.

- Need-specific gifts: Latest case in point: S. Unofficially married four months back, she's going to fly out to Canada after her public wedding this Friday. She wanted us to buy her winterwear as her wedding gift. Then there's F - she's stalled most of her friends from buying gifts because she wants to settle down in Pune first, find a home and then get people to buy her stuff.

- Appliances: Best worked through pooling in, ideal as a group gift. Microwaves, laptops, refrigerators, ACs - you get the drift. (Pun unintended.)

- Indulgences: Self-awareness = treating oneself to spas, weekend getaways and therapy sessions to bust stress. So packages of the sort are always welcome by the getting married types. Even better if the validity period's for over two years - they have a ticket to bring dead romance back in their lives.

Then of course, are the Keeda gifts. Presented to tease, taunt, aid sex life, or plain just mess around with the bride and groom:
- When S got married, she got a book of erotic stories, pink underwear, a handy KS manual and more. (The guy i was seeing then suggested garden scissors as well because she was a feminist, but never mind that.)

- A friend's friend got a year's supply of condoms. All brands, all flavours, all sizes.

- Older couples - because they are getting old - present baby stuff! (Picture this: bride and groom standing on stage fresh out of wedding vows, unceremoniously dumped with a baby bag full of diapers, clothes, mits and blah blah. Even worse if it's an arranged marriage.)

So there we have it. Changing marital times calling for changing gifting patterns. It's a good thing the times are changing though. Somehow forms an extra incentive to be married. Love and all apart, that is.