Gifts are gestures; acknowledgements that you truly know another person and can anticipate her desires, or can gauge possible causes for her happiness. Beyond the ceremony and obligation of it is a joy that is felt by both the giver and the receiver, a certain amount of selflessness that marks the exchange. This inevitably forms a huge part of what we describe as the spirit of Christmas.

Fishing boats with black flags take part in a 'sea-rally' to protest the construction of the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial in the Arabian Sea on May 25. Pic/AFP

This year is different, though. Even the act of gifting has been compromised, thanks to the empty promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation drive. While I've made my peace with the fact that until another six months pass, we won't be entirely sure whether this 'surgical strike' has effectively served a deathblow to a relatively functional economy or has managed to resuscitate it (although I firmly believe that no policy that has suffered casualties or a death toll should be considered successful), I am acutely aware that many things are rotten in the democratic republic that we call India.