Where gold speaks
By: K S S Pillai
The adage, “Where gold speaks, every tongue is silent,” summarizes the social position of gold, a highly sought-after metal.
Though the price of gold has touched the sky, the shops selling ornaments are always crowded. The first thing that strikes you when you open the newspaper in the morning is the full-page advertisement of jewellery shops. People buy gold at some festivals as it is considered auspicious.
The marriage season has always seen the price of gold going up. Gold is so essential at weddings that the poor raise cash to buy it by selling even their homes. Experts consider gold as a hedge against inflation.
Religious institutions like temples and churches see that they have a large quantity of gold in store. Some have tall gold-plated flag masts before them. Some temples receive anonymous gifts of gold or other precious metals from their devotees.
Gold smuggling has become so lucrative that even highly paid cine artists and airline employees devise ways of hiding the metal at unthought-of places, giving a tough time to the trained dogs and authorities.
The elders often say the price of gold was very low in the past, forgetting that the cost of everything else was also low. Gold ornaments with glittering stones were worn both by girls and boys on their ears.
In my native state, the rich or well-employed boys demand almost a kilo of gold ornaments, cash in lakhs and a swanky car as dowry. There were no ornaments that covered the whole of the front portion of the bride those days. Since the ornaments nowadays are too heavy for daily wear, they are kept in bank lockers after the wedding.
Institutions like banks lent money on the security of gold ornaments. As some borrowers duped them by pledging gold-plated ornaments, the lenders started employing goldsmiths to test them.
In the past, I read several Western novels with the gold rush in America as the theme. They centred around people’s dream of striking it rich. The heroes rode half-wild horses at lightning speed, dangling a couple of pistols and searching for gold deposits. The emergence of boom towns often caused significant damage to the land and the displacement of the Native American population.
There was also a popular story of a poor but wise elder who kept a heavy stone inside a locked iron box, chained to his bed, which was never opened before others. As he never parted with the box, it was thought that it contained a gold brick, and all tried to remain in his good books by serving him well.
The truth came out only when he died. There are also stories of relatives who fought with one another to grab the golden teeth of those on deathbeds even before the patient breathed his last.
A story that fascinated me was that of King Midas, on whose touch everything turned into gold. The poor man is said to have died a horrible death as his darling daughter, food, and drink turned into gold when he touched them.
Some films show villains with heavy golden rings on all their fingers and massive gold chains around their necks. Silk sarees are costly in some places as a few parts are woven with golden threads. Rich people are said to take their food from golden plates.
Newly-born children are given honey ground with gold to make them fair-coloured. An essential part of Vishukkani, the first sight in the New Year, is the golden ornaments. The Kings used to give gold rings to those with extraordinary abilities. Gold medals are given to those who come first in examinations and sports. Some people buy houses with groves in their compounds with the hope that they will get treasures of gold from them. Some snakes are said to carry gold on their heads.
When the price of gold is going up, I applaud the Pentecost Christians, who do not wear jewellery as it is seen as a vanity and a distraction from spiritual focus.
(The author is a retired professor of English. A regular contributor to ‘The Kashmir Vision’, his articles and short stories have appeared in several national and international publications)
