i wanted to get my father a blackberry bold for his birthday..and i was thinking of getting him a phone from India..since i am here and taking to him as he is in another country..and i was wondering if it would make sense to purchase a blackberry from here and use a local service provider there .. ?? without taking a data plan and just using the EDGE or gprs capabilities as needed..??

Depends on tha carrier and the country. Some carriers require you to have a BB data plan. Some carriers do not support the BB at al so if he would need technical support, he would have nowhere to turn. There no real way to give you a conclusive answer on this one, other than "it depends".

In any case the device would need to be unlocked before it could use a local SIM.