Rubies All The Way!

For a rationale human being, wearing astrological gemstones does come at a price. For instance, people calling you religious and superstitious. And trust me, it is a big price to pay!

I have been made to wear about four of them – pearl, coral, ruby and yellow sapphire/amber in chronological order. I threw away my first pearl ring (which my departed maternal grandfather gifted me in 10^th grade) because I could not write fast enough in my pre-board exams. (Ring in pinky finger does slows you down).

Then I wore it again, but I had a tendency to throw it away – I believe it was never meant for me.

Then came the coral because apparently my planets were misaligned and blah blah! Truth be told, my mind was misaligned more than my planets. At God knows how many astronomical units, these bloody planets can not affect me at the same rate as my mind can.

Getting back to our topic, coral was on my left finger and then the ravishing blood red ruby on my right one. I did not pay much attention to the ruby one, though I always relished looking at rubies in my childhood. After a year I was advised pearl again and that too combined with the coral one as a pendant. Imagine having to carry that much weight around your neck. Harry Potter, you have my sympathies when you wore Slytherin’s locket around your neck.

Last but not the least, the yellow sapphire came and trust me I can not afford to lose it or even throw it away. No puns intended. I might have spent a good smartphone’s worth on it.

I never knew the value of my blood red ruby ring until the day one of my colleagues pointed out her fondness for the same. Not once but more than thrice.

She still asks me from where did I get it and I always tell her I will tell you, though I forget to ask the friend who got me the ring, the name of jeweler.

There are more than thirty faces on this ring and I counted these after five years of first adorning it on my ring finger. You know why? Because I took it for granted, I took its sheen, its beauty for granted like we always do with so many people and things in our life. My colleague made me realize the lovely shine it reflected and refracted whenever I moved my hands or gestured angrily or threw my palms into my head when I wanted to pull away my hair.

Too bad, it took me five years and a person to finally see the beauty of this stone…..

But now I love to savour the shine of the ruby ring and deliberately move my finger at different angles so that I can bask in those little rays of light from the gemstone. They do make me happy, however small that might be.

Imagine what a solitaire would do!

Meanwhile that Slytherin’s locket or rather the coral-pearl duet lies away in my Mom’s dressing table. I think it has become a horcrux now because when I finally took it off, a wave of relief swept me. It probably took a part of my darkness away.

I can not believe what I am writing but it is 2 a.m. in the night and spookiness prevails.

But yes, the ruby stone is beautiful, better than any piece of jewellery I ever had.