The Perfect Souvenir from India

If you have friends living in other countries whom you are about to visit or if you are visiting India, you must surely be looking for a special Indian souvenir. I have friends all over the world who bring me or send me lovely souvenirs from their own countries. Over the years, I have sent them different things from India including our world famous tea. But I happened to stumble upon the perfect souvenir from India at an airport. It is everything that your overseas girlfriends would love about India rolled into one!

On a recent trip, I spotted this beautiful embroidered bag at the WHSmith store and was drawn to it. Little did I know that it contained not just one, but many surprises inside it.

As if the beautifully embroidered bag itself is not the perfect gift to carry from India, it happened to be the best souvenir idea.

The colorful bag has everything that India is known for. Hats off to the genius who curated this bag.

Here is what each bag contains:

1. Hand Embroidered Patchwork Bag from Gujrat
2. Hand Painted Papier Mache Box
3. Carved Wood Indian Elephant Keychain
4. Indian Masala Chai
5. Traditional Indian Bangles
6. Traditional Indian Earrings
7. Handcrafted Puppets from Rajasthan

There is no limit to the souvenirs one can take home from India. But this bag includes some very lovely ones for the girls!

I am keeping this bag for myself, but it has given me a pretty good idea of what to take for my friends when I visit them (or even if they visit me). I tried each and every thing in the bag to test it’s quality. I liked everything except the bangles. They could have put in prettier ones. Here is a detailed look into each of the items from the ‘India Bag’.

Masala Chai Tea

The first thing we tried was tea. My husband is a tea lover and has tasted teas from all over India and the world. The natural tea spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and ginger immediately received his approval.

Handcrafted Puppets from Jaipur, Rajasthan

My favorite item from the bag! I am crazy about collecting Indian puppets and somehow the trip to Jaipur always get voted down in favor of Goa. I finally began my collection with these two beautiful puppets depicting a Rajasthani couple. The couple is now stationed on the doorknob of my master bedroom.

Carved Wood Keychain

A lovely little souvenir that anyone will enjoy receiving. Our elephants are the biggest attraction for foreign visitors when they visit our country. And the elephant motif itself is popular with all things Indian. Mine hangs with other collected key chains from all over India!

Bangles and Papier Mache Box

I was happy to see the Kashmir Art of Papier Mache boxes find a place in the bag. I am using it to keep trinkets and am sure my friends would love to do the same.

The bangles are the only item I am not ecstatic about. No complaints, but they are not the ‘special’ ones you would carry back from India. They are very plain, and only four of them. I might substitute them with a different set if I buy these bags for my friends.

Traditional Indian Earrings

These earrings can also be substituted with even more traditional ‘jhumkis’, but their design and light weight makes them ideal for all kinds of outfits. In fact, I rather like them. They go with a lot of dresses – Indian as well as western. Jhumkis or other metal earrings would only go with Indian or Boho outfits.

Hand Embroidered Patchwork Bag from Gujrat

And finally…the bag itself! I am completely in love with it. The embroidery is beautiful as you can see from the several shots I have posted at the beginning of the article. Very Indian and very Unique, it will be a welcome addition to any woman’s wardrobe. I have styled it with a white kurti with pink detailing.

There you have it! I think the bag is a brilliant idea to gift to your friends from other countries. Priced at INR 1100, you will not able to create this curation on your own for the same cost. The bag is from Indigoody.com and although the exact same bag is not listed on their website, several others are. They do not offer online ordering, however. So WHSmith is your best bet if you think that this would be the perfect souvenir from India!