Red and White with a lil bit of Green

Christmas is here....You can feel the Christmas spirit all over the place....just like they say in the 'No. 1' song in the movie Love Actually.

My previous company showed a great way to get into the Christmas spirit of sharing. It was somewhat around this time last year. Our business unit did something called as Secret Santa. What happens is..whoever wants to participate submit their name along with their interests/likings. The organizers then make chits out of the names and you have to pick up one chit. The person whose name u pick will be your 'kid' and you are his/her Secret Santa. That's when the fun begins. For the next 2 weeks...u keep giving gifts to your kid secretly.....either leave at his/her desk when he/she is not around....or better still make someone ur 'elf' and send the gifts through your elf. The child in the mean while tries to guess who his/her Santa is. The Santa can leave clues n hints to help the kid. And then just before the vacation the Santa has to reveal himself in case the kid has not yet guessed.

It so happened that when I picked my chit, it was the next cutest guy in my workplace (the 1st cutest one being my darling V). His name is Tony. So for the next 2 weeks I kept gifts and chocolates at his desk. I made my friend Sachin (also a good friend of Tony) my elf and conspired with him on how to make Tony keep guessing. I even made a yahoo id and started chatting with him. He was clueless as to who is his Santa. What a laugh we used to have! As time went by lots of Santas go revealed and their names were put up alongside the kids name. As time went by, Tony's option reduced. On his last day of work, he had come down to 3 names...mine and 2 more. Finally he couldnt figure out any more (I was chatting with him all this time). He then visited those 2 people and finally realized that his Santa was me! Was I feeling good at outsmarting him :)

All this time, something else was also going on....even I had a Secret Santa right? What happened was initially I didn't get any gifts at all....nothing. I was so disappointed! Everyone was getting something or the other...and me got nothing. Then I started complaining...quite loudly infact...that I got a 'kanjoos' for a Santa...and all that. Then next day onwards I started getting gifts :) My technique worked! Guess what did I get.... cookies and chips from Walmart...bottle of coke..and such. Cant say I was happy about my gifts! They used to get over the moment I opened the pack! Again my complaining started....I was sure my Santa is a desi. Normally Americans don't gift eatables...even if they do, it'd be a box of chocolate, home made pie... or such. Next day I got this cute Xmas tree which glows when you switch it on. It wasn't something to eat! My technique worked again! I started making my guesses...had come down to 2 names...guys whom I knew didn't like me.

Then a few days before the holidays I got n email from my Santa. I got a chance to thank him for the gifts..the eatables turned out to be a 'life saver'. B'coz during those times I used to be extremely busy and didn't get time to go for lunch. Before the last day, he (I assumed it had to be a guy...the choice if gift reflected so) asked me what do I wanted as ur last gift.....me of course replied in a pat....a huge teddy bear...the bigger the better :-). I was thinking of adding "PS-> just kidding" but thought let it be...as if he is gonna actually gimme one. The next day I was busy on phone talkin to a client...when this guy.came with a huge bag. I was so shocked...and I couldn't talk to him as I was on the phone. He kept it besides my table and left ....and I just able to mouth 'thanks'. Later I opened the bag and saw the gift...it was a huge bunny!! I felt so ashamed of myself....gosh! How could I have done that? True to my guess, my Santa was a desi...his name Bhagat Singh (I came to know his name much later...that time I didn't know who he was or where he sits). So I went around looking for him...and thanked him....didn't know what to say.

V was like....tu bhi na....kinds. You know all my frens made so much fun of me and they still call the bunny as 'Bhagat Singh'