Gold
It shines pretty
It makes women go crazy
Young or old
With one breath, they love it
They want to wear it wherever possible
It’s a symbol of pride and status
Even when silver, pearls, platinum, diamonds
Made their shining presence in the market
Gold is a medium to show some attitude
When some others have stunning designs
It makes them jealous
But it makes them passionate
To get a stylish and costly piece of jewelry
To show their beauty with its glow
At times
It’s price breaks their hearts
Yet they chase it to buy
And keep as safe investment
Here in Kerala
There are more jewelers’ shops
Than utility shops
There are streets with glamorous array of
Glittering showrooms that lure
Keralite women with all kind of offers
Watch the local channels
You will find more gold ads than food ads
With pretty young girls showcasing
All the brilliant artistic craftworks
Created by unknown skilled men
Who melt this metal and shape it to
Unbelievable masterpieces
Here gold gets into the life of a baby
On 28th day
To commemorate the birth
And to officially baptize the birth
By wounding a gold hiplet on baby
By the dad
In presence of relatives and friends
For girl kids it’s just the start
As there is a painful welcome
To continue the journey
On the ear piercing ceremony
They officially gets their first ear rings
Then further, they get more gold
Depending on the wishes of parents
As they get into teenage
And transform into women
They get more gold
Chains, bangles, anklets
And mothers start buying jewels
Anticipating their daughters marriages
Which are years away
As nobody can predict prices in future
When they reach the age of marriage
The bargaining starts
The handsome guys not only need dowry
But also good collection of gold as well
In order to marry their daughters
Parents arrange gold as much as they can
Those who don’t have money
They will borrow or sell land
But they won’t take risk of leaving gold
Parents see gold as investment for their daughters
In their married life
Groom and relatives see it as source
To get money in urgency
On wedding day
Keralite girls drape themselves with costly saris
Then garnishes them with
Countless gold jewels, which weighs a lot
Yeah if see a jewelry model in a bride
It is an understatement
The grooms get their fair share of gold
And happily weds their brides
By tying a costly gold chain on their necks
Amidst the whistles of women
And shower of flowers from the audience
But the journey of gold continues
When new life starts
For buying land or vehicle or for paying back the debts
The gold is taken away from the girls
By their in-laws
Some guys even marries off their sisters
Using their wives gold
Some might keep it safe in bank lockers
And the countless relatives who need money
Will keep visiting to borrow the jewels
To give as collateral for getting loans
Over the years those girls gold reserves
Get depleted
But those who get into rich families
Will be lucky to get more gold
As their spouses, show their love towards them
By buying costly jewels
Some girls continue their quest for gold
Blackmailing their husbands
Yeah it’s a costly gift for many to present
But for a happy marital life
They make sacrifices
But the fascination for gold remains alive
From generations to generations
As mothers gives their gold to their daughters
It’s more amazing that
We don’t have gold mines in this state
But you bring gold from any part of the world
You will find a buyer here
Obsession for gold isn’t limited to women
Thieves know about the passion of women
For gold
And they know where to look for gold
They loot wedding houses
They loot jewel showrooms
They loot gold lockers
As there are buyers for even stolen gold
Gold economy thrives here
With the spending power of people
Assisted by the cash from gulf and other countries
Where countless keralite work and save money
Gold is a safe asset for many
Banks give loans to buy gold
Private financiers give money by taking gold
Squeezing money as much as possible
People here will afford loss of money
But will try to retrieve their beloved gold
By paying over the odds
If not they will be sad
Forgetting the fact that
Their urgency was met by the money they got
When it mattered
That too after paying interests for long
sometimes more than the amount they owe
This is gold's own country
where it is a fortune metal
With status next to god
This poem is totally inspired by the lifestlye in my state.I always wondered why there is lot of obsession for gold.As i observed closely,i found that it's a part of culture here.This madness for gold will remain for long long time unless women turn towards diamond or someother glittering metals.
