My father was a diplomat so I didn’t grow up in India. Because we were overseas a lot, the culture of dressing up and being so adorned wasn't as grand as it is at home. The way we bedeck ourselves with jewellery is at a different level from the rest of the world. [...]
In Hindu astrology, the word graha means "to seize." The nine planets or nava-grahas seize people at different parts of their life and influence them either positively or negatively. Gemology is about using gems to alleviate the effects of these planets. Some people say that a gem needs to be of at least two [...]
What makes up your identity? Is it culture, tradition, and aesthetics? Or is it religion, faith, and rituals? Is it ideas and concepts? Or is it your habits, fitness levels and fashion? Most likely, it is all of the above. For many of us, how we dress and what we wear is part [...]
Behold these spectacular gold funerary sandals: invented by the Egyptians for the afterlife. They are used for that most casual of reasons: to beautify yourself, and for that most weighty of objectives: as an investment for the afterlife. Jewels go back back in time to the dawn of civilization. [...]
...my father came to see my mother in the hospital delivery room. She handed him the baby and he pressed a gold bangle into her palm. “Ponn kodutha kai-kku pon kodukkaren,” he said with a shy grin. Ponn in Tamil means daughter. Pon, without the end emphasis, also means gold. My father, ever [...]
What can I tell you about Tamilnadu? The land of my birth. Madurai Malli (jasmine), Kumbakonam degree coffee, Ambur Thalapakatti biriyani, Kanchipuram silk, and the Kaveri delta. The sari-clad matron grudgingly accepts the cellophane-wrapped plastic bag from the jewellery salesman behind the counter. “No calendar?” she asks. This then [...]
Jewellery was always part of giving a reward in our family. We would procure and wear a piece of jewellery, whether new or handed-down on important occasions. If I did well at school, or for birthdays or arangetrams, jewellery played an important role. I can remember that I got a pair of jhumkis [...]
As a child, I was always interested in getting dressed up. The women in my family were very simple. My grandmother had earrings, gold bangles, mangalsutra. My mother, a few pieces more than that. The first time we indulged in jewellery shopping properly was when my brother got married. [...]