Immaterial Girl

“You have got to be kidding me!” I say to my sister.
She shakes her head. “It’s fine. It’s pretty much average. They’ll be happy with that price.”
I look at the gold necklace, bracelet and earrings laid out in front of me. “But that’s like three months’ salary! How can anyone possibly justify spending that much on useless tat?”
She gives me her best ‘Keep-your-voice-down’ look. “It’s not like we’re paying for it,” she says.
“I don’t care who’s paying for it. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t even wear jewellery.”
“It’s tradition,” she tells me. “Whether or not you wear jewellery is immaterial.”

I start thinking about pawn shops.

We’re out wedding shopping. It’s tradition for the groom’s side to buy the bride’s wedding gold and outfit and my family have forced me to go out traipsing around Green Street on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to choose my regalia. I’m hot and sticky and shopping is the last thing on my mind. Thankfully, I know my tastes and I encounter no arguments with regards to my choices so it’s all done relatively painlessly. I say “relatively” because I did have to throw a few death stares and make a few snide remarks when my two sisters started stopping at every other stall to look at shawls and sandals for themselves. So the choices get made fairly easily BUT I still can’t get over the price tag.

Who in their right mind spends so much on jewellery? I’m the kind of person who would rather spend £10 on something that’s worth it than £2 on something that’s not. And in my opinion, jewellery comes pretty damn low in the “worth-it” stakes. Obviously that is not the general consensus or else I wouldn’t be reeling from the price of a simple gold set. It’s just that it’s enough to travel around the world. Luxuriously. Twice. With a hired Johnny Depp lookalike. Anyway, moving swiftly on…

I guess what it boils down to is individual choice and what each person holds in high regard. I have come across people who count “Own an original Louis Vuitton bag” amongst their life ambitions. I mean, come on! When I tell my sister this, she says there must be at least one material thing I wish to own “someday”. I said, “Sure, I want to own a house but that’s not wanting a possession for possession’s sake." She says, “There’s got to be something else.” I tell her that I actually have a list somewhere that contains my “Life To-Do List”. So when I got home, I dug it out to check and this is the complete, unedited version:

Pass my driving test (2002)
Get a First (2003)
Publish book (2006)
Find my partner in crime (2007)
Buy a house (2007)

Travel the world
Increase knowledge of Islam
Read the classics
Learn fluent Spanish
Ride a horse
Go fishing
See Mariah Carey in concert
Learn to tie a tie
Introduce a slang word

After reading through it, I gave myself a satisfied pat on the back. I mean, sure, I have some strange things on the list but I like to think most of the things on there would be a little more fulfilling than owning a Louis Vuitton bag. As for the jewellery set, I can’t really sell it since it is, essentially, a gift so I’ll keep it somewhere safe and pretend that it really means something.