On August 19, 1943, my great-grandparents married in a mosque in Punjab. That summer, my great-grandfather worked diligently as owner of the Coca Cola facility in India to save 100 rupees and buy my great-grandmother a wedding present. Back then a gram of gold only cost 10 rupees, but now costs around 3000 rupees for the same amount. My great-grandfather bought his wife a 10-gram, 7-carat gold necklace adorned with diamonds. In 1944 they gave birth to a beautiful Aziz Fatima, my beloved grandmother. In 1947, the partition of India caused havoc among Hindus and Muslims, and my great-grandmother tragically died four years after her marriage in a bloody riot between the two religious sects. My great-grandfather cherished the gold necklace until 1961, when my grandmother married my grandfather in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. My grandmother proudly wore the necklace as a link to her past and her sole connection to her mother. On December 20, 1995, my grandmother placed the beautiful necklace on my mother’s neck as she recalled memories of the cherished family heirloom. According to my mother, “I felt the love from my grandmother and mother when I wore that necklace, and it gave me the confidence I needed for the big day.”
I am the next person in line to receive that necklace, the fourth generation in our family. The necklace serves as a reminder of my roots and precious memories of my beloved grandmother. The necklace is over seventy years old, yet remains in style today as an antique piece of jewelry. In traditional South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, families pass down sets of gold jewelry from generation to generation, most of which are traditionally worn at the wedding. Our weddings consist of three days of celebration, with the second day as the actual wedding day. My great-grandmother set the precedent to wear the necklace on the second day to match the traditional red and gold bridal dress. The necklace set motivates our family to retain the traditional Pakistani and Arabic wedding ceremony and ritual, even in America.
When my mother immigrated to America in 2000, she kept the necklace in a case with a lock and key. The necklace set was the most valuable item to my mother because it served as a connection between our new home and our native homes, i.e. Punjab, India, and Saudi Arabia. It reminds us of the family, culture, and traditions we left behind, but the memories we cherish will always travel along with us.
The sentimental value of the jewelry depends on the story, not the actual price of the gold or diamonds. Each story evokes a memory on our past because it reminds the recipient of the giver. When my mother opened the jewelry box of the necklace set to show me the heirloom, she instantly flashed back to wonderful memories of her mother and her wedding ceremony. The feeling, the luster, and the colors of the necklace brought tears to my mothers’ eyes.