You have seen the sights, explored the unusual and now it's time to pack your bags and head home. There's just one problem which is the biggest challenge any traveller faces... what to buy for the folks back home!!!

If you don't want to do the usual rounds of the duty free at the airport, trying desperately to think of something that will explain exactly how much research you put into getting that souvenir key chain or those chocolates, then read on.

When you are visiting India , the options become really numerous and difficult to sort through. The amount of useless kitsch you can pick up is limitless, stuff that will lie around until it finds its way into a garage sale.

This article is an attempt at sorting through the choices and hopefully helping you make the right ones.

Choose for the individual

In India you can easily find a lot of interesting things for personal use and home décor. Most of these things are handmade and make good gifts, but you have to make the gift appropriate for the individual..... don't just pick up one thing for a lot of people. For instance, for someone who enjoys spending time in his/her kitchen, you can pick up a broad range of wooden and stone implements for kitchen use, or a cookie jar made out of paper machie. For those of your friends who are wine drinkers you can pick up some very interesting wine bottle holders with traditional motifs and designs. These pieces can be found in local markets and places like cottage industry shops.

When one thinks of India , the first thing that comes to his mind, is cloth. Only most traditional Indian outfits like saris are just not practical gifts, especially for westerners who normally wouldn't wear them. What does make a good gift though are table cloths and cushion covers, made out of cloth with beautiful embroidery and or prints. For those of your friends who have no intention of changing their décor to fit in with your gifts, you could pick up a stole or a shawl. This is a simple enough gift, which a lot of people would use. If you have friends with a creative bent of mind, an especially good gift would be a few metres of gorgeous cloth to do what they like with. Indian perfume

Another great gift is Ittar or Attar which is a name for perfumes made from the extract of flowers like jasmine, rose, sandal, herbs, spices......barks are also used in base oil such as Sandalwood oil. Ittar is a concentrated perfume, so it can be used as an essential oil. Ittar is also useful in curing various skin diseases, as it helps in improving skin tone and texture. It was popular with nobles of India . Jasmine ittar was the favourite perfume of the Nizams and Maharajas of India . It was the customary practice of nobility to offer ittar to their guests. Ittars come in beautiful tiny crystal bottles, so they make not only sweet smelling gifts but great looking ones as well. These perfumes are mostly available in North India , as these perfumes came to India through the Mughals.

One of the things that a lot of visitors to India don't realise, is the great toy tradition that we have. There are still places where there is not much in the way of entertainment so the local craftsmen come up with some pretty interesting toys and crafts to fill in the time. So for the little ones pick up some puppets, dolls and other beautifully hand crafted toys.

Accessorize

A wonderful gift idea, especially for those of your friends who love their accessories is just that ...Accessories!!!

India is a virtual smorgasbord of jewellery, bags, belts, shoes etc. and the best part is, it is available at great prices in all parts of India .

Leather comes really cheap here, as there is a massive production of leather goods here. You can get wallets, belts and bags at great prices, in a variety of colours and the latest designs. If you would rather not buy leather, India provides lots of options in cloth as well. You could pick up a pair of juttis (traditional Indian shoes made of cloth with embroidered detailing) or wallets and bags made out of cloth.

You can also go for silver, semi-precious stones and real jewellery, or you could pick up great looking junk jewellery. I must add that in India the term junk jewellery is a bit of a misnomer, as you can find some beautifully designed items, something for any age group. Where else could you get ear-rings made with peacock feathers, beads or sterling silver set with gorgeous stones? All of these are available in local markets. So pick up something that catches your eye, but do remember to bargain.

If you have friends who are music lovers, India has great options for you. We have a great musical tradition so if your friend is a musician than you could pick up one of the countless traditional musical instruments. If the person you are buying for isn't as interested in playing music as in listening to it, then you could pick CDs of different kinds of Indian music like Folk and Classical both instrumental and vocal. This option would work well for most people and not just music lovers.

I hope these suggestions make life easier for you and make your friends appreciate the hard work you put into finding just the right thing for them.

Plus you get to keep the duty free chocolates!!!!!