Thursday, March 29, 2012

On Gold

For some time now I've been puzzling over ... gold. I have an instinctive and visceral dislike for gold jewellery (and the buying of it!). I was trying to get at the root of it and perhaps I have.

The 'buy gold' logic is very compelling. Your wife wants it. (Well atleast my wife does and so do most of our female relatives and a lot of friends, though I'm sure nowadays a lot of women have managed to stay out of it). As a guy it makes sense because it is an investment and not a consumption expense so you're keeping your wife very happy essentially without spending any money! What a win-win !

So why do I hate it so much.

I think its because all the gold comes out at events like weddings, and women overload themselves massively with it. Gold as ornamentation works upto a certain amount of the stuff ; too much and it takes away from beauty instead of complementing or enhancing it. You are no longer a person, you are a hanger to hang all this gold off of.

The primary function of wearing lots of gold jewellery is to communicate the message: 'I have lots of money'. And that's disgusting.

PS: From Sajini, here's a CBS TV segment on the same topic.

http://youtu.be/sUr2E4dfs0Y