It's not a gift, if it's not expensive!

In the plush area of Mumbai lived a boy named Vinay. He lived with his parents. His elder sister Tanvi was married. She lived in Delhi. Vinay was a carefree young boy. He lacked ambition. His life was only regarding partying and socializing. One day Vinay lost his parents in a road accident. Vinay and Tanvi grieved for days. Eventually, they had to move on. Days passed, Tanvi became very busy with her household. Vinay decided to take responsibility of his dad’s business empire. Tanvi’s husband Suresh was very happy with Vinay’s decision. But Tanvi had a different opinion. 



‘Not mature enough to handle business,’ assumed Tanvi.



Tanvi was against his brother's decision of joining the business. Suresh encouraged Vinay. Initially, Vinay showed enthusiasm and concentrated on work. Ultimately he lost interest in the business. He started partying again and spent lots of money! Tanvi and Vinay met quite often. Every time they met Tanvi asked for an expensive gift from Vinay. Suresh was against Tanvi’s behavior.



‘Don’t I treat you with gifts that you ask Vinay for it?’



‘He is my brother; he can afford to pamper me with gifts.’



‘Okay fine. I understand that he is your brother and you can surely ask him to give your gifts. But why an expensive gift?’



‘Because it's not a gift, if it's not expensive.’



Suresh disagreed.



Years passed, Tanvi used to demand expensive gifts like gold or diamond jewelry from Vinay each time they met. Vinay was suffering huge losses in business. But he still pampered his sister with expensive gifts. He didn’t tell Suresh either that he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was stressed. In trauma, he lost control of his car and met a bad accident. It took him months to recover. One day while he was still recovering at Tanvi’s home. Tanvi and Suresh walked in his room. Vinay was very depressed. 



‘Here are your savings!’ said Tanvi giving him an envelope.



‘What?’ 



‘I said here are your savings.’



Vinay opened the envelope. It had details of a bank statement with a balance of Rs. 25 lakhs. He looked puzzled.



‘You remember I used to demand expensive gifts from you. I use to sell them and deposit money in a bank account in your name. Because I know that you don’t save and spend unnecessarily. Savings hold you during bad times and help you start fresh.’



Vinay and Suresh were amazed.



Moral: Be a good person, but don’t waste time to prove it.



Happy Reading!



© Nisha B Thakur