The Missing Gold-Ring

Small objects are so difficult to find once they 'go missing' by losing.  Smaller the size of the lost object, larger the chances of them NOT being seen again. Chances of it returning can be ruled out if lost outside the house.  Level of disappointment can be intense when it happens to be a close-to-the-heart object, valuable and of gold or gemstone.

Some years ago, there was a large gathering in our house for a family function.  By that evening, guests had left, barring a few relatives who stayed longer into late evening. Our help lady Jayamma had come to wash the large vessels and plates and also clean up the rooms.  She had brought her two little nieces who were vacationing from another town.  Jayamma lived just a furlong away.

That evening my wife suddenly realized that the ring was missing from her left ring finger.  It had two small emeralds and little diamond.  It was a much loved ring because it was from her hard-earned savings and custom made from a jeweler in Krishnamurthypuram.  The stones were carefully chosen from a reliable gemstone seller opposite Mysore Zoo.  The ring had embellished her finger for many years.

A number of people had come to attend the function and gone.  There had been a lot of activity and movement of people inside the house, amidst happy moods, but when the remaining relatives learnt of the missing ring, the atmosphere turned pale and my wife's face wore a tensed look. Jayamma also assisted in sweeping the floors in search of the ring while her nieces were playing in the yard.

Vigorous search operation took top priority, with all of us taking active part.  All the possible nooks and corners were combed and swept.  My wife tried to recollect the exact places where she had gone in the house during the day.  Even after two hours, it was not found.  The lost ring had dampened our moods.  Losing anything dear and also valuable is never a pleasant feeling for anyone.

The next morning, after a worried night, we had hopes of finding it somewhere and began searching again in the same places.  When Jayamma turned up for her regular morning work, the first thing she inquired was the ring and it was status quo.  Jayamma had the reputation of being trustworthy and not in the habit of stealing.  So we never doubted her. She finished her work and went away. The dull mood at home continued. It was also a holiday.

After evening twilight Jayamma came with one of her nieces. "ನೋಡವ್ವ, ಇದೆ ಏನವ್ವ ಉಂಗುರ?" "See madam, is this the ring?"  My wife's face lit up in joy.  Jayamma had kept up her reputation. It appears that that evening, her nieces at home were playing with that ring, not knowing it was such a valuable item. One niece was showing it to the other in excitement "ಉಂಗ್ರ ಸಿಕ್ಕೈತೆ, ಉಂಗ್ರ ಸಿಕ್ಕೈತೆ" in her own words, "I have found a ring, I have found a ring.", which was noticed by Jayamma who immediately caught hold of it and had come to return it to the owner. The young girl showed us the place where she had found.  It was in the passage outside the bath.

The young girl was adequately rewarded and Jayamma was sent two notches up the honesty table. And because of this new 'lost and found' status, the ring got even closer to the heart and there is no measure in money to value sentiments! Hard-earned things do not easily leave us, do they? 

A couple of years after the ring-return episode and too busy with her work in other houses Jayamma left, but sent her sister as replacement.  We are lucky that Thayamma also carries forward the same qualities. 

The ring.

My gardening friend Susan from Ohio, USA, wrote to me about an incident when something led to her dad's gold ring. In her own words:

After dad died, his body was donated to a medical school to become a cadaver for the students. Some months after his death, mom got a package in the mail.  The school had sent her dad’s wedding band. Somehow it got left on his finger! I think that is wonderful, that they sent her his ring. I don’t know about the family heirloom thing, Dinu. After all, mom didn’t even think to take the ring off of dad’s finger before his body was taken away!! Mom is like I am in that she is not a sentimental person. Mom did say that the ring was in excellent condition considering it was on dad’s hand from 1951 through the middle of 2010!! 

Susan also had described once before how her dad had struggled to earn and bring up his children.

Astounding acts keep happening! 

Suitcase left and found

Subramanya’s brother had come to the Bangalore Railway Station to pick him back home after we returned from our trip to Jammu for a cricket tournament for our employers. Subramanya was happy to see him there at the Station as it was many days before we left our homes. That was around dawn, December 1983. I had planned to go with him so that I can visit his house before continuing my journey back to Mysore later in the day.
 
Bangalore then was not as crowded as we see today.  Passenger and autorickshaw queues were not yet felt necessary.  It was on the verge.  We threesome boarded the three-wheeler.  It was jam-packed with luggage and our legs while we sat under the weight.  It was still the 'holdall days'!

Subramanya's brother was curious to know how the tour went and how we had fared in the games. By the time we could answer him with a few details, the house at Basavanagudi had already arrived in just ten minutes.

Those were the days of telegrams.  Even if STDs were available, we had no phones at home to inform our families about our reaching a distant place or our welfare if the tour was more than a week. Nowadays, we inform our families back home even if we sneeze two times - through mobile phones!

Sometimes we used to write postcards on alternate days and searched postboxes to mail them!  It was quite a thrill. Often we used to arrive home quicker and read them ourselves!  As such, once we were out, we were literally disconnected from homes and they would not know the goings-on of our tours.  The details were only revealed on arrival to curious family members.

We alighted the autorickshaw and the brother helped with shifting the luggage inside.  Suddenly I discovered that my suitcase was not among the other pieces of luggage that came home with us.  He did not remember! But I clearly remembered having taken it out of the train bogey, carried to the autorickshaw stand.  After boarding the vehicle we did not verify if we had taken in all of them.

The missing suitcase puzzled us.  We tried to rewind our memory to each and every move we made, frame by frame, from the time we got out of our bogey and it was showing clearly the suitcase was in my hand.  It still showed up as we waited for the autorickshaw. After that it was blank.

The suitcase was a new one bought just before the tour at a ‘factory seconds’ discount sale.  I had another old kit bag and hold-all.  The newer generation wont know what it is.  It was bulky, heavy and had the capability to 'hold all' including the bed and pillow, hence its name! In those days sleeper class train seats were of wooden planks and a quilted bed was a necessity for long journeys.  Only later, cushioned seats came into vogue.

So, we arrived at the conclusion that the suitcase must have been left behind where we boarded the 3-wheeler.  Most of the passengers had left the spot before we found our vehicle and that got us to worry more about it.  It contained all the purchases I had made for many others also and had become quite heavy with walnuts, apricots, etc!  It was the first time I had gone on such a long tour.

Leaving me behind, Subramanya pillioned his brother on his motorcycle and headed back to the spot where we boarded the autorickshaw with a very faint hope of finding it, even though only 10-15 minutes had elapsed.

My wait for that little over half hour till the brothers returned was like half a day with umpteen things crossing my mind.  Losing things I had bought including the suitcase itself was a main worry, my cricketing attire included.  I had spent up most of the money and losing cash was not an issue on the mind.  The few rupees left in my pocket was enough for the journey back to Mysore excluding the railway ticket, which was already up to Mysore from Delhi.

Hands behind my behind, I walked here and there, like a caged animal in the zoo. Family members at Subramanya’s knew the density of the situation and just observed. After a seemingly long while, I heard the sound of the motorcycle stopping in front of the door and I very eagerly looked out in curiosity.

“My box of gold” was sitting in front of pillion Subramanya’s tummy! I went out and received the heavy suitcase with both hands as he got down from the seat. My joy knew no bounds. They were also very happy that it was not lost.

The satisfaction and sigh of relief I experienced at that particular moment defies description. It does not probably even measure up to such news as winning a bumper lottery!

What had happened was that after they loaded luggage into the vehicle, I being the last, had failed to carry my luggage in.  That critical period of time shows a ‘blank’ in memory!  Perhaps these things happen to everyone at one time or other and they always happen when it least 'expected'!! We call these as 'bad moments' and they go unexplained.  The 'auto' had started and moved and  probably I had no 'neck space' to turn and see out after sitting.

The policeman who was on duty near the Autorickshaw Stand had found it lying there.  Had it been today, it would have been a 'suspicious baggage' due to bomb-scares and no one would have touched it! Sniffer dogs would have been summoned!  This policeman had kept in his custody knowing that the owner would retrace the steps back.  He handed the suitcase to them only after being convinced that it was indeed ‘theirs’.   Whoever that policeman was, I doff my hat to him in gratefulness, even after 26 years since this happened.

Very rarely are things returned to owners after being lost or left behind.  I count myself lucky in this instance.  I have named this suitcase as ‘Left and found’!