Gold has always played a significant role in our lives - as a precious, auspicious and attractive metal. It features strongly in our rituals and our celebrations.

Bought and gifted to those that we consider special, gold purchases are particularly significant on certain days of the year. With Akshaya Tritiya, May 11, being an auspicious day for gold buying, jewellers in the city are extremely busy. On this day they keep their shops open well into the night to welcome clients. Demand and purchase of gold on Akshaya Tritiya outstrips gold buying even during Diwali and Dussera. According to Dil Bagh of Neelkanth jewellers, "It's a very good day for us. We have the highest sales. And it gets better every year. People might skip buying gold on other festivals, but not for this auspicious day. We have special schemes for people buying gold from us on this day." Agrees Sharad Jain. "Akshaya Tritiya is an auspicious occasion. In fact so auspicious it is that even checking muhurthas is considered unnecessary." Jain is in fact opening a new showroom, Gold City at the KPCT mall on this very special day.

Says Saurabh Gadgil of P.N. Gadgil Jewellers, "Akshaya Tritiya falls in a very active month. It's also a month of vacation and marriage. So on this day of the year, work and business multiplies, not just for jewellers but also for all shopkeepers. For us the atmosphere at home and the shop is one of celebration." Bagh says that for him, this day is all work and no play. "There is no time for home. Our branch in Pune is only three years old, but the response that we get from people is overwhelming." With branches in Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Bir chose Pune for it's lovely weather and its people.

What with modern lifestyles and changed priorities, has the significance of this auspicious day diminished for some people? Not really, says Gadgil, it is only the buying style on this particular day has changed, he says. "A few years back women came in, took a leisurely look, and booked pieces of jewellery. After that they came to our shop on the day of Akshaya Tritiya with their husbands to take the jewellery home. But these days, with time constraints, it's instant. They come in on the same day and pick up stuff. Working women even pop into our shop during lunch hour!"

As for changing fashions, the trend now has turned back towards traditional jewellery as against the eighties and nineties when women favoured modern and chunky jewellery. Also, a lot of working women prefer light jewellery. According to Dil Bagh, jewellery that has an antique look is very in. Adds Saurabh, "Even men come in for tie pins, cuff links spectacle frames, and belt buckles. A lot of these are picked up as corporate gifts."

The women in the Gadgil household are also keen buyers of jewellery on this day. "Years back our fathers and grandfathers used to bring home jewellery for the women but now the women come in and select pieces that they can wear on this auspicious day. Gadgil prefers daily wear jewellery for his wife. He feels that the heavy jewellery lies in lockers most of the time, so it's very practical to buy his wife some light jewellery. For Bagh it's a diamond and gold necklace that he takes home for his wife on this day. "A diamond is a woman's best friend and it instantly brings a smile to my wife's face." Says Rajiv Lal of Sequel, an international boutique that exclusively deals in diamond rings, "I would invest in a very large diamond on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. A diamond is forever after all." Jain is personally partial to chokers but feels, "any piece of jewellery is valuable and appealing."

Come May 9 and P.N. Gadgil offers Puneites a new branch on East Street. The journey has been a long one indeed. Saurabh speaks fondly about his ancestral business, "In the early half of the 19th century (1832) my great great grandfather sold gold in Sangli on the road side. He sold one gram for one rupee. And then my grandfather opened a shop in Pune in the year 1958. His was one of the first shops on Laxmi Road, which was then dominated by waadas. I spent all my vacations visiting the shop and learning the business, naturally."

The word Akshaya means 'that which never diminishes' - hence beginnings made or valuables bought on this day are supposed to bring luck and success. No doubt, this auspicious occasion is full of promise for both customers and shop owners.

Shehnaz Chawla