Aurum 79

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Yes, that is GOLD!!!

But if I title this post as 'Gold', my inbox will be flooded with computer-generated spam from Gold Outlets.

I have always been averse to gold and silk.

That was because during my childhood in AP, there was too much display of these two in every function by womenfolk. That was all their wealth. Poor things: cash, land, houses, and every other form of wealth were the preserve of men, descending from father to sons.

Shree Suktam of the Rig Veda starts like: "Om, Hiranyavarnaam harineem suvarna rajatasrajaam, chandraam, hiranmayeem lakshmeem jaatavedo ma aavah".

Lakshmi is all gold and silver and moonshine.

My problem was that early in life I happened to read the story of King Midas whose touch turns his daughter into all-gold, like that blonde in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger.

What is the use of a girl of gold?

And then our science text had it that the silk saris ceremonially worn by our ladies demand the merciless boiling of thousands of silkworms blissfully asleep in their cocoons. What a horrible thing to wear!!!

Fortunately for me, in KGP, I saw very little of gold and silk displayed in daily life, at least.

It is funny that gold is what it is because it is inert.

I read that if all the gold ever mined in this world is stockpiled, it won't even fill an IIT Hangar of a double-football field size like the Tata Steel Stadium at KGP.

There is no doubt that a thin gold chain around the neck of a girl-child like Ishani certainly adds to the chain's beauty.

But, any gold-plated chain would do it even better.

But I used to see waist-belts of solid gold around fat dark middle-aged mothers of a dozen in my childhood.

Soon after my marriage, my wife landed in Qrs C1-97 with a small steel trunk as her wedding trousseau. I asked her what was there hidden in that Pandora's Box. She replied, a few silk saris and a few gold ornaments. I told her that if she was much attached to them she better conceal them because during those years burglaries were rampant in IIT Campus, and by then I myself had that Qrs and similar ones earlier broken in and stuff looted several times: "who steals my purse steals trash" (Othello)

With the result that our honeymoon plans to Digha got canceled; because she couldn't risk burglary and I was averse to shift her trunk to someone else's house for safekeeping.

The poor girl was stark alone in that wilderness (our twin C1-98 was vacant) when I was at the Institute supposedly teaching. And she came from an extra- large family in a temple town which knew no silence.

So, at the stroke of 11 AM she would be waiting for me eagerly in our verandah, and when she spotted my ramshackle bicycle, her face would light up like a thousand bulbs (she is very fair, you know, compared to me; so are her son and now her granddaughter; fair skin is much valued in the marriage market even now).

But one day the smile on her golden face was replaced by a sullen frown and as usual the reply was: 'Nothing'.

This went on for two days.

The third day, she broke down, and confessed that ALL her gold ornaments were missing by the time she returned from her one-hour stint in the Prem Bazaar Hospital (Free) OP duties.

But there was no break-in and it was quite mysterious. And she admitted that she was concealing them in her wardrobe instead of in her steel trunk, as per my suggestion.

I took great pity on her and asked her how much her gold ornaments would cost. She replied about Rs 30K. It just so happened that was exactly my PF balance (after 15 years of honest service at IIT KGP). So, I assured her that I would by hook or crook (I knew our kindly Gouri Babu) withdraw that amount in installments and replace all her gold within 2 years.

Oh, well, I don't have to describe the fruit of my magnanimity.

Next morning at 11 AM, I saw that she had walked to our front gate and was standing there, so she could spot my Rocinante from the turn at the horizon.

And she was all million-dollar-smiles.

And she announced, like Hanuman debriefed Lord Raam: "Found! Found!! Found!!!"

"Where?"

"In the folds of that old sari".

Both of us were at once richer by Rs 30K and happiness worth a thousand times that.

Our own 'Free Gifts of the Magi'.

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This reminiscence was triggered by a phone call to him that my son described this morning:

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Caller: "Mai, Ashok, Rajasthan se bol rahah hoon"

Sonoo: "Boilye jaldee"

Ashok: "My aap ki ek minute le sakta hoon?"

Sonoo: "Jaldee"

Ashok: "Aaap AP se hai naa?"

Sonoo: "Haa.. Haa"

Ashok: "Aisa hai; ki, merey paass do kilo ka gold biscuits hai"

Sonoo: "Rakhiye aapkehi paas"

Ashok: "Oh, aap jaantey hai!!!"

Sonoo: "Bahut.. Bahut"

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End of phone call,



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