The bells go dingle, dangle…
I was on a mission: I wanted to buy little silver bauble earrings to replace the pair I had lost. Nothing fancy, just little spheres; about 10mm in diameter.
Very quickly I discovered my problem with trying to locate such a style in the souqs of Dubai. They don’t believe in minimalism over there. When you learn that many Indian brides travel to the famous gold souq in Dubai for their bridal jewellery, you understand that it is Bollywood style that rules. As much as I love it, the lost baubles were my go-to earrings when I couldn’t decide what to wear, or if I was in a hurry.
In the end, while meandering in Muttrah Souq in Oman, X and I stepped into a shop that was bedecked in glass lanterns, thousands of strings of beads and myriad earrings. I delicately lifted one pair from their hooks and held them up for X to inspect. “What do you think of these?” I whispered dubiously.
Boing! My eyes rounded. “I want those!” I said sotto voce to X, while attempting to look completely disinterested.
While I modelled them in front of a mirror, the owner handed another promising pair to X, who brought them over: little filigree bell-caps with dangling chains of varying lengths, each finished with a tiny bauble.
Boing! My eyes rounded. “I want those!” I said sotto voce to X, while attempting to look completely disinterested. (I had already received several homilies from X regarding my propensity to get over-excited in front of the shop owner, thereby driving up the price of whatever item I had my heart set on.)
“What’s your upper limit?”
“I don’t care what they cost, I want to buy them!” I shooed him away to bargain for me, while I took the opportunity to take some photos of all the magical goods on display.
Suddenly I was being hustled out the door. “What’s going on?” I demanded. “Where are my earrings?”
“Relax.” X strode off and I anxiously trotted after him. He came to a stop a few shops away and motioned for me to hand over the Omani rials. It would destroy his manly image if he did that in the shop, he explained suavely.
“Oh, whatever,” I answered, too impatient to snigger, as I eagerly handed him the foreign dosh. We returned and I became the proud owner of what I dubbed my ‘dingle-dangle’ earrings.
But I still don’t have baubles!