In India, ring is not a symbol of engagement. I mean, people can give it to each other if they like since exchanging rings is in fashion, but it is not a mandate. In fact a lot of people get engaged while they aren’t face-to-face, aided by their families who fix the marriage. I guess we don’t need a symbol since once someone gets engaged, everyone in the whole world is invited to attend the ceremony so that everyone knows and none of the parties think of backing out.
So, most of us wear rings simply as a symbol of affluence or for stone therapy (related to star-charts, lucky stones and all that). But for some reason, I wear them for protection.
Ever since I started my job, I started wearing gold rings in both my hands. They are nothing fancy–just two thin and simple pieces that my parents bought for me when I started college. Once I left home, these pieces were a reminder of my parents’ love but also an emergency fund, in case I lose my cash…my wallet…or lose my way…
Not sure where these insecurities came from. Maybe because I had been sheltered for the first 28 years of my life by my parents before I stepped out to create a life on my own…
When I had first moved to Bangalore, my parents had simply handed me over to my brother to ensure my safety. So, three months later, when I decided to move to an all-girls PG room with a female colleague, it was a monumental moment of my life. Moving out of family’s protection circle scared me senseless. And that was when I made the decision to wear these two rings plus two gold earrings to ensure financial safety in case of crisis.
My logic: I can always sell them or give them away in return for help.
It sounds insane even to me and I never had to actually sell anything, thank goodness for that!
Even after I started working from home, the habit of wearing these rings all the time has persisted, so much so that I feel exposed without them. Now my two fingers have ring-marks around them. And if I wear fancier rings for any occasion, I simply wear it on the top of these two.
Weird…isn’t it?
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Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective 
Three years before I married Julie, I bought her a gold engagement ring with three identical diamonds in a row on it. It was very expensive, as the diamonds had certificates of colour and quality. The actual gold wedding ring I bought her to put on her finger on the wedding day was cheap by comparison, but that is worn below the engagement ring to signify she is married. She loves the way the diamonds in the engagement ring catch the light, and she says it is the best thing she ever received in her life. So as far as I am concerned, it was a good purchase. I also wear a wedding ring, it is titanium with a thin gold band in the centre.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Engagement rings mean so much when they are given as a promise of love. India is the land of arranged marriages, so rings are often just given out because it is a fashion to do it upon a very public and very arranged engagement.
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