Confessions of chocaholics

Sweet souvenirs

But most of the time, people travelling abroad end up buying goodies that are already available in the domestic market. International brands are available everywhere and unless there are major production defaults, they taste the same. So what is the point behind this gift giving? Is it something people do out of obligation or just out of plain lack of ideas?

“Well I think that it is not out of lack of ideas, though it might be the case with a few of them who would rather stick to the Western parallel of mithai ka dabba while visiting,” says Neha, a professional. “Today, because of convenience, people resort to packaged alternatives like chocolate, which can be bought a few days before and stored comfortably,” says Abhinav, a market analyst. Chocolates, especially foreign ones, had caught the fancy of many since the pre-liberalisation times when Indian markets had only two or three brands.

“The West has historical roots and fame in the chocolate industry and so Indians, who used to go abroad those days, found these to be the cheapest option for gifts knowing that even the housemaid would be expecting a gift from phoren,” says Chaitanya, a student.

 “So even though you get a lot of varieties of dark chocolate at stores and home-made nice chocolates are available here, people still haven’t shrugged off that aspirational value attached to foreign chocolates,” says Anip, a marketing professional.
And these days it has turned into more of a tradition where people take it for granted that they will get chocolate no matter what. Sandeep, an IT professional says, “Well most of the time, more than a sense of obligation, we bring back a gift for our close family and friends. And in the big rush of things, you often can’t make the time to pick individualised gifts.”

And chocolate and candies remain the easiest thing one can buy for both children as well as adults. “The point behind it all is to tell people that you remembered them during your trip. And getting something really good for everyone takes up a lot of time, money and space in your bags, something that you are usually short of on trips,” says Anish, a professional.

“Chocolates end up being the preferred gift of choice because almost everyone loves them and you can’t go wrong with the choice,” adds Sandeep. Well, all we can say is not unless someone has diabetes!