I love bangles

I love bangles. And this is one of my favourite poems.

The Bangle-sellers

Bangle sellers are we who bear
Our shining loads to the temple fair...
Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.

Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,
Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves

Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,
Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.

Some are purple and gold flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worships the gods at her husband's side.
-- Sarojini Naidu


I think, this is the best poem Sarojini Naidu wrote. But we ain’t discussing poems here. We’re talking bangles. Best described as rainbow-tinted circles of light.
I’m not much of a jewellery person, but bangles are something else. I’ve got boxes full of them. To go with each saree or salwar kameez. And I don’t mean those metal thingies you get these days. I’m talking glass bangles. Metal somehow can never be a circle of light, na. Metal bangles just don’t feel right. Their tinkling feels artificial.
The real tinkle is that of glass bangles, which sounds like a nymph who’s laughing out loud (dil khol ke) at a really funny joke.
And bangles have to be worn by the dozen. Two dozens for each hand. At least. They work best in multiples. Their function being? To cheer you up, and make you feel at the top of the world. Bangles make you feel proud to be a woman. And privileged, of course!