Note: The article is written only out of curiosity and in the spirit of inquiry. Any views expressed are mine and I do not mean any offence to the religion or religious sentiments of the followers of the religion.
These are the kind of images that have stayed in my mind ever since my childhood, especially from the Diwali poojas conducted at our place. And I've found similarly created idols in temples also. Majority of Indians who follow the Hindu religion are exposed to such images all through their lives, I reckon .
I pulled these images doing a
simple search on Google. Have a look at the jewelry the goddesses are shown wearing.
When an Indian woman gets married, she's often referred to as Laxmi on her arrival at her new home. Wives or daughter-in-laws are seen as human avatars of Laxmi.
I can't help but think and hypothesize that this constant exposure among men and women to such images and to such references, and especially as part of practicing religion in our country, is a very very strong influence on people's preference for gold jewelry.
At Mississippi, we work with Silver which is white. But in my interactions with visitors, I often observe a profound faith in the metal 'gold' and a deep preference for the color 'gold'. Youngsters (let's say, less than 25 yrs of age), more or less, don't seem to care much for the color of the metal.
At Mississippi, we also try to promote a 'clean look'. That's why the focus on 'earrings' and even among 'earrings', a focus on lightness and 'cleanliness' in designs. But visitors are astonished (pleasantly most often :)) by such an offering. Observe what all are the goddesses wearing! In this context the 'cleanliness' that we are referring to might be difficult to digest, no? :)
When we indulge in conversations related to 'investment' and 'design' and 'workmanship' and 'value', sometimes visitors seem surprised, even dumbstruck (and perhaps offended) by what I have to say and explain. (I won't repeat the same here. I've explained most of the things in the earlier posts on this blog.)
Indeed, lot of what I say goes against the conventional wisdom regarding jewelry buying in this country. Especially when such wisdom is symbolically depicted through the images of gods and goddesses and as part of religion, day in and day out.
And all the education of MBAs and 'finance' grads and stock-traders and investors and educated professionals doesn't help them tease apart the nuances of investment and fashion. Not even the soaring prices of Gold yet, I suppose.
It's a triple battle here :). Religion vs Education vs Market Dynamics+Environment. What education can't achieve against Religion might be brought forcibly into the general thinking by market dynamics and environment. Watch!
