Before partition, my naani, Shanti Devi belonged to Lahore, now in Pakistan. She married my grandfather, Gyan Chand on 16th March 1950 in one of Karnal’s districts which is now Panipat. This is when she was given this keyring or ‘challa’ – as we call it in Punjabi – as a part of her wedding trousseau by her mother.

The coin from 1906 was no mere coin, but rather a piece of my great-grandmother’s jewellery. It was a part of her tagdi, the silver belt she wore around her waist on top of her sari, which was eventually bequeathed to my grandmother. The story goes that so beautiful was her mother that when her future father-in-law came to see the young girl, he immediately liked her for his son, and presented her with a silver coin. This silver coin, to be exact.

In our house, no one really would value the old, nor find it charming, but I immediately fell in love with this [tea set and watch]. My father still laughs at my obsession with these old things, but for me, it’s a little bit of preserving the lost past of Punjab and my family.

Set in black jade, the pendant has the initials of my grandparents inscribed on it in gold, intervowen within one another. S for Suraksha and P for Prem. My grandfather got this handcrafted at Kanjimal Jewllers in Chandni Chowk sometime in the mid-1950s and gifted this to my grandmother on one of their early wedding anniversaries.

My grandfather recalls his mother, Snehalata Majumder to always be well dressed and adorned. Some of my family members even remember her being weighed against gold during her marriage. I never met my great-grandmother in person, but when I wore this bracelet, which once belonged to her, I was overwhelmed.