Majje: Gold and its value

Gold was security for most Indian Mothers…. Sometimes they were pawned to get businesses off the ground for brothers and husbands… sometimes sold off to get a roof over their head and to get food for the month ….. sometimes secretly given to daughters in case she needs it ….
For the women of tulunadu, gold was all those things and more. It was also a status symbol. You could tell a lot about a woman by the gold she adorned…. It made for gossip if she repeated it, and if she didn’t there was often envy and pride over the good she possessed…
I wrote this part of the book thinking of my own mother and grandmothers. My mother had made me promise her to make gold for her granddaughter and even listed the traditional designs she lost in her youth. She’d have me make them for my daughter and say “my mother in those days had a koppu (an upper earring), Ammu should also have one” and it was made. When the koppu was brought home to show her she’d say “my mother also had a Lakshmi sara that we lost in the fire” and the cycle would go on.
A majority of today’s generations probably don’t understand the need for Indian mothers to make gold. Every Akshaya Tritiya I have heard kids complain at the gold store about whether it was worth just buying gold and why couldn’t they buy the diamonds they liked….
Gold was necessity, it was hope to ask Lakshmi to bring more wealth into the home, it was security for women and the household….

Pre book Majje: https://www.nitiil.com