My first ‘elastic’ earnings

Today, while putting some jewellery back into the bank locker, I came across a thin gold chain that I had carefully tucked away in a tiny pouch. In monetary terms, it is not a very valuable chain as it is machine-made, and very short and light, but it is truly precious to me, as it was the first piece of jewellery ‘purchased out of my earnings’.

I was in the first year of college when a Trade Fair was held in Delhi. Thanks to my brother who was then working with a garment export house, I was given a chance to ‘man’ a stall at the Fair for a few hours a day for 8-10 days. For this assignment, I was paid the princely sum of Rs 1000/-. It was a happy day when I received the cheque, and I picked up sweets for the family on my way home. As the family was not small, the sweets created a dent in the 1000/-.  If my memory serves me right, there were tiny gifts for family members, which created a bigger dent in the balance. I also remember buying a gift for my friend, grateful that he waited patiently every evening outside the Fair grounds on all 10 days to ferry me back home on his scooter. All this was even before my cheque went into the bank. 

Defying all logic, like a stretching band of elastic, when the amount finally showed up in my bank passbook, my mother insisted I use the money to buy something solid, which obviously meant gold. We went to the jewellers, and she chose this chain, which cost around 900 rupees. These were days before ATMs and debit cards, so we must have paid cash, and I really can’t remember whether I ever withdrew the money from my account and paid her back. In spite of that, the chain was always referred to as the one I bought out of my earnings.

Every time I see the chain, I remember my parents with gratitude. We were not wealthy, and supporting all my ‘gift’ buying and then buying the gold chain would have not been easy, but I can still remember my mother talking to her friend about how generously I bought something for everyone at home, and also used my money sensibly. How proud I felt then!