Shopping for India!

Never make the mistake of announcing that the 2 suitcases of yours are empty when you are leaving US to India. There would be a flood of calls from people you would have vaguely heard of, asking for 'stuff to be dropped off in India'. This time, since it was a short trip and i had to carry some stuff to one of my customers here, i had to employ 2 large suitcases and one of them was virtually empty on the return leg. Coupled with the fact, that there was no time to shop, i risked being alienated by my fellow countrymen of commiting sin of the highest order: Half Empty suitcases to India

To ensure that sins like these don't occur, there was this last minute panic shopping that i indulged, in the proverbial eleventh hour. Not much was accomplished but atleast there was no visible space left behind.

It occured to me, that there are cardinal rules for shopping & here were a few at the top of my head:

• Never leave the shores of India without a trip to Wal-Mart, Circuit City (or equivalent)
• Never leave chocolate shopping to the last days, they will usually run out of stock of your favorite brand
• Never (please, i beg of you) buy more than one large bag of Hershey's Kisses. When i have friends/family bring them in, i feel 'cheap' about this large quantity/low quality product
• Never leave Frankfurt without picking up some chocolates. Expensive, yes -but good ones. I would recommend White Chocs be picked in Frankfurt
• Never leave toys & electronics items in their packages, they occupy a lot of space
• Never have less than 2 large suitcases
• Never have a hand luggage weighing more than 4 Kgs. Also, a thumbrule - If you have a coat/jerkin, it should fit into the hand luggage

There might be many others that long term stayers will come up with, but i devotionally follow all the above. For the last few trips, i believe in travelling light & travelling pleasantly.