On a gold hunt

It was years ago that my mother-in-law gifted a gold chain to my wife. Th-ough it weighed only half a sovereign, my wife held it dear to her heart and wore it rather everyday. Her mother had passed away and that was further reason to hold the gold chain in reverence.

It was made by their family goldsmith and was a thing of beauty. The present was made on the occasion of our wedding anniversary and her mother had told her not to give it away to anyone else except Manju, our only daughter.

The other day, I left my wife at a bus stop to board her school bus. Upon reaching school, all and sundry began asking her why on earth she wasn’t wearing her chain that day. But she had worn it right in the morning, she said. Her close friends at the school were worried by now and my wife asked me to go to the bus stop and look for the lost chain. She told me to check on the road where I had dropped her.

As it was a loving order from my wife, I started in right earnest to look for the missing chain. But how could you expect a gold chain to lie on the road without being picked up by this time? It had been 15 minutes since I had left her at that bus stop. I enquired with each and every autorickshaw driver for the precious jewellery. Most of them knew me and, expressing their sympathy for situation, joined me in the chain hunt. However, we were disappointed to not find the chain. Dame luck seemed to be rather indifferent to us.

It was afternoon and feeling uneasy by now, I called my wife to know the fate of the missing chain, to know if she could find it in the school bus. She was in tears but hadn’t lose hope. She had prayed to all saints, both known and unknown. Meanwhile, one of her friends, Sreelatha, told her to pray in front of the big cross near their school. Being a devout woman, she prayed fervently to all these saints, including St Antony and St Jude.
The classes were over by three in the afternoon and my disappointed wife started her journey homeward. She usually takes another road to reach home, but this evening she tread the road where I had dropped her in the morning. When she reached the spot she prayed with all her heart and looked around.

And there it was! Lying in the dust of the road, but glinting because of the scorching Kerala sun! The poor thing literally ran homer from that place, her face filled with excitement and sheer joy. With tears in her eyes, she hugged me and told that the seemingly impossible has happened! She looked at the picture of her mother and thanked her profusely, and the saints as well.