The Yellow (Metal) Fever

Since childhood, the one dish that has been common to all dinners at home is the evening news. Along with vegetables, rice and mom’s health advice we kids fed on political clashes, corrupt spiritual gurus, bombings, burglaries and everything else that went on in our fascinating world. After all these years of keeping up with the goings-on, I would without doubt give the award of “Most striking rapid elevation” to the “Precious Metals’ Prices” department or as more commonly known, “The Gold Rate”.

The moment the name of the sponsors of the gold prices section appear, an invisible pause button is pressed at home and everyone goes into freeze mode. Teeth stop chewing, tongues stop chatting, hands stop serving and eyes become so glued to the idiot box (in this case, god-sent information box) that only a natural calamity could win our attention.  We watch keenly as the prices are flashed on the screen (which is invariably bad news). Then come the shocked gasps, groans, tchs and cha’s.

Over the years, gold and silver prices have been rising, at times gradually and at others in leaps. After every news broadcast, my grandparents would reminisce about the days when my granddad bought gold earrings for my grandma for a mere Rs.70. They would also talk about the good old prices of rice, wheat and vegetables in the good old days. Everything cost less back then and produce was ample in terms of quantity and quality. But even today, though the prices have gone up, the lust for gold hasn’t come down a bit among the conservative South Indian families. Some people rush to the shops the day the prices fall (which is by a maximum of Rs.10/gram) to buy how much ever they can with the money saved in anticipation of this glorious day.

This mad rush is because the shiny yellow metal is more than just jewellery to us. Gold symbolizes wealth, dignity and pride in our hierarchy. An Indian wedding isn’t complete without rows of women glittering from head to toe and observing hawk-like what their counterparts have adorned themselves in. It is a mark of prestige to them. Also, how much gold the bride brings as dowry is a matter of supreme importance to kith and kin. 

But GenY in our jeans and T shirts have little or no craze for gold jewellery. But that might change as we grow old as this “golden tradition” is not something that can be shrugged off in the course of one generation. It will take many more generations to come to alter the trends and who knows, maybe aluminium jewellery will be all the rage in a couple of decades given the skyrocketing prices of our precious gold. Until then gold will glitter and gold rates will be served with dinner everyday.