Indian neighbors send each other food in a dabba, a container. The container often comes back with something in it. A columnist in The Tribune described a neighbor who “reciprocates with something special,” and “the same dabba returned once too often with various delicacies.”
The custom has a darker side as well. In Deccan Herald a writer noted that “the same generous souls who want to ply you with goodies can turn curmudgeonly when the containers don’t come back.”