A Girl’s Ornaments

A few weeks back, for a Puja at home, I donned a #Saree. The neighbourhood aunt who visited us reminded me that I wasn’t wearing any ornaments; she reminded me of the pair of gold bangles I had got done like about 15 years back and asked me to wear those from time to time! She was right, after all what were my jewelleries doing locked up in the closet? I decided to take those out and wear on festivals or other occasions.

So, today I sat down giving myself the task of sorting my jewelleries and accessories so I could find those easily instead of wondering where these were when I actually needed to wear.

I thought it was going to be an easy task, but I had to deal not only with how they were scattered everywhere but with a lot of memories too!

I opened a box which had some colourful danglers, given by friends or colleagues, and some bought by myself and one among them was a gift from my school days. I put them all neatly in another box for easy access the next time I needed to find a matching piece.

Another box had a very beautiful pink rose designed neckpiece and earrings which I had bought from a Sydney market many moons ago. I might have just worn them once and as I held these in my hand, I felt a certain tingle in the memory nerves. This piece is one of my favourites, the fineness delights me every time I hold it.

The opal set I had got from Sydney seemed to have faded a bit, I need to find a way to get it’s shine back. I remembered how a friend had taken us to a govt showroom so we didn’t get cheated. One of my lovely possessions, an opal!

Another one from Sydney is a bracelet in sandstone and iron and I am trying to remember as I write where the matching ear top could be! They were tiny and I must have misplaced those.

Few other golden bracelets had to be sorted, one self bought, one gifted by cousin and one gifted by a colleague which she had got from Thailand.

There is one neckpiece among my collections, bought from Tampa and made from beautiful white and blue shells which I have never worn though it has been about 10 years since I bought that.

Among the bracelets, is one gifted by a friend who got it from Germany, another blue beaded bracelet gifted by a colleague who got it from Sydney, a silver one given by a friend back home and worn just once or twice.

Then there was this neckpiece and top in sort of black metal which was a gift from college days. Yes I still have this along with a thick black metal bracelet gifted by my friends.

Among the collections are also earrings and ear tops made of bamboo, a speciality of North East India and gifted to me by a friend. Thankfully I have worn them several times.

I still have a purple ear top given by a not so nice classmate. The classmate back then had played many tricks but her choice of clothes and accessories were great. I have also preserved a single piece gifted by a friend just for the sake of memory.

My fingers touched a beautiful pair of peach ear drops gifted by a friend about which I had comfortably forgotten. Last week, I wore a peach saree to work for Diwali and I had to struggle to find a near match. This one would have been perfect but I just didn’t remember that I had those.

I was still trying to smile at these memories when I touched the gold finger ring which was gifted by my mother along with a gold pendant which I had kept together. I could no longer hold up, the memories came flashing of how I had told my mother that the pendant was a little big for my taste. Tears welled up my eyes and I wished she was here on this mortal plane today and I could wear it just now and make her happy. Not in this lifetime!

Among the ones gifted by my mother was a pair of silver fish shaped ear tops which she had bought many many years ago from a fair and I hold them very dear.

I have glass bangles gifted by my grandmother many many years ago. I also have bangles which she had brought from Hardwar.

I couldn’t continue any longer, left everything scattered on the bed and walked out in the pretext of buying something. I wanted to pour my feelings out that very moment and called my childhood friend. She didn’t answer today and I came home and stared at my scattered stuff and didn’t know how to continue. For a moment, I even regretted that I opened up a Pandora’s box.

I went to the kitchen, finished my kitchen chores, browsed on the social media, had my dinner and came back to the task with a resolve to quickly finish for today and to wear these stuff more often.

I managed somehow though I am only half done. I also have a box now where I have kept the single ear pieces in the hope that I will find the pair somewhere in some other box .

While doing this, I found several hair bands, clips and brooches which I have accumulated over the years. I have stacked these somewhere now and hope to arrange those another day.

I know somewhere in some other closet I have a white pearl set bought during some flight, a black/purple set, the beads of which were given by a family friend who got those from Andamans, silver toe rings given by an aunt! But these tasks will be for another day.

And I am not showing off my collection here, I am just running through memories of places and people!

What I haven’t yet done is finding those gold bangles where the story began!