Little Rann of Kutch, 2017
She smiles and makes bangles with beads.
Young, plucky and shrewd can also be used to describe this young Banjaran of Kutch. I met her in 2017 in Little Rann of Kutch. I didn't write her name down in a diary and my sieve memory is failing me to recall what she's called.
On my travels, commerce for clicks is a motto that works well for both the parties. I get to make a picture and the subject gets to sell her wares.
She agreed to get her picture taken when I asked on one condition: I had to buy bangles from her.
I was more than happy to oblige -- who could resist those charming eyes?
"Oh! I love your earrings--the ones you're wearing.." I blurted out, baring my greed and excitement to her while picking a few bangles.
Without blinking an eyelid, she removed her earrings and handed them to me.
"Here. You can buy them." she commanded with her twinkling eyes.
I was putty in her hands.
"You paid too much." someone in the group commented when I got back into the mini van.
"It's probably not even silver." she clarified my stupidity at buying something that expensive first thing in the morning and without any guarantee of authenticity of silver!
You see, we had just started the day. The Banjara women had spread their wares out on the porch outside the reception area of the place we had spent the night in Little Rann of Kutch.
I felt a twinge of regret at my over-excited nature but the earrings were so beautiful.
A couple of days later, I met a young jeweller in Bhuj and I showed him those earrings and asked him to check if they were silver or not.
He told me that they were but of course not pure silver.
"Did I get cheated?" I asked him.
He smiled and said, " Do you like them?"
"Yes. very much."
"Then you paid as much as you could afford for what you liked. Banjara make jewellery when they have enough money to buy silver. Then, in times of need or when they find a customer, they sell it. You are happy with your earrings and she's happy with the money she made. Simple." he made a matter of fact statement and smiled.
This young jeweller's name is Jay and he taught me a valuable lesson that day.
Banjara women wear a silver band that sits across their head and they hook their earrings from these bands, so the pair she sold me didn't have a post, just a hook.
I had to wait a year before Anu took me to her jewellery guy in Doha to get posts welded on to these earrings so I could wear them.
I love them. And every time I wear them, I think of her smile and her twinkling eyes.
