When Arjun Basu gave Twitter a try three years ago, his first tweet wasn’t the usual mic check. Instead he wrote a story, edited it to 140 characters, and hit send. Intrigued and inspired by the limitations, Arjun’s stories, coined Twisters, now number in the thousands.

In addition to these pithy slices of life, Arjun has also authored Squishy, a book of short stories, and his first novel is currently making the rounds with publishers. Today he shares his own gift-giving stories with you, without any character limits. Thanks Arjun!

What are the best gifts you’ve given or received?

I think, first, gifts are situational. An amazing gift can quickly become useless. The idea of a gift is relative. For my last birthday I received socks among other things. Very funky socks. I have a sock problem (meaning, I love socks too much). I admit this. And my wife fed that problem. I was thrilled. Five years ago, I might have looked at the socks and asked “what are you, my mother?” In that same batch of gifts, I recieved the new Momofuku cookbook. Again, I was thrilled. Wait, I may have mixed up two different gift giving events. Good gifts kind of blur together…. Now, because of what I’ve just said, I have no idea what the best gift I’ve ever given was. I’m trying very very hard not to make a crude joke right here. But it’s very hard. I need to step away for a second.

What’s your favorite reason to celebrate with a gift?

I don’t think gifts need occasions. I mean, yes, a birthday without a gift is literally a day without sunshine but if I see something I like, I buy it. And it becomes a gift. Mainly I hate shopping. I hate the physical act of shopping, whether that means going to a store or even perusing the internet. That said, I love buying stuff on the internet that I come across by accident. Because then, I’m not “shopping.” I’m pretty sure I totally didn’t answer that question.
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