the blue sapphire and me

we bumped into a THAI guy, in WAT TRAIMIT (temple of the GOLDEN BUDDHA), BANGKOK , who spoke a little bit of HINDI. “tumhara naam kya hai?”, he started the conversation, it was in a typical….i don’t know which accent, but i was glad to hear those words in a foreign land. but more than that i was impressed to see a genuine gladness in his eyes too! it was his fiftieth birthday that day, APRIL 30, he revealed to us, “i visit this temple on each birthday” he added. he was feeling nostalgic as he spoke to us about his stay in BOMBAY during his younger years. that is were he must have picked up those hindi words i thought. he suggested us the places to see and things to do during our stay in bangkok. “buy SAPPHIRES”, he recommended, “the worlds best sapphires are mined in THAILAND. the government promotes this trade. the tourists are offered discounted rates” he said.

the next halt of our tuk-tuk was at a government owned gemstone shop! i have heard the queen of england has a room full of gems and jewels, it would be similar to this shop, i had this wild thought. i could see PAVAN uncertain on the selection. i picked up a GREEN SAPPHIRE pendant from the whole lot of gem stones and pendants in front of us, “beautiful!” he exclaimed, with no further explorations he made his choice. that was too quick. the pendant was made in gold with the 1.19 carat green sapphire placed in the center. i was looking for a single stone, surrounded with its natural beauty and nothing else. i laid my hands on a 1.09 carat BLUE SAPPHIRE, it was magnificent, with a light blue shade.

pavan called up his mother that evening and told her about the gift he bought for her. the reaction was plain “don’t bring any sapphires at home!”. pavan was in a soup. we already were in a crunch for time, we couldn’t spare time for having dinners forget going back to the shop to return the gem. to add to all this we were supposed to leave bangkok by the 3rd of MAY. “dont worry, i’ll buy it from you” i said. i could see a sigh of relief on his face. that beautiful green sapphire pendant at this very moment is swinging around my neck.

the reactions at my home about the new buy was as plain as the reaction of pavan’s mother, “it’s awesome” they said, “but you shouldn’t have bought it. it doesn’t suit all”. since my return the “blue sapphire” is lying in the safe of my cupboard, no body seems to be much interested in it except me.

last friday while on our way back home from the office, myself and UTPALA (my colleague) went to TRIBHUVANDAS BHIMJI ZAVERI, a renowned chain of gem and jewel shop in BOMBAY. i wanted to make a ring with the sapphire instead of just keeping it locked in the safe.


seeing the blue sapphire, one of the sales girl queried “sir, have you checked with you astrologer about this”. “for what?” i replied “i liked the gem and hence i bought it”. “no sir , but i suggest you check with someone, this stone doesn’t suit all, it too hard. it’s SHANI’s stone”. “that doesn’t matter” i smiled “i would like to make a ring with this”. “let me check with the SHETH (owner). he believes in astrology and he would not agree to make a ring of a blue sapphire”. i was surprised by that statement, but utpala was expecting this i suppose. she had already shared her knowledge about gem stones on our way to the shop, which was seeming convincing to me after such statements. in between all this astrological talk, the other sales girl tried opening the box containing the blue sapphire, the box would not open so easily, she was struggling to open it, the result of her the last effort was the small box opened up with that jerk and the sapphire popped out of the box and went straight inside her dress through the opening near the neck. all were in smiles, including her. she had to go in the adjacent room to retrieve that naughty sapphire from his hiding place somewhere in her undergarment.

"in which finger should i wear the sapphire ring?" i inquired. “middle or the index finger” she replied. “what if i wear it in the little finger?” i asked. “it depends, you have to check with an astrologer”. she went away for a while and then came back. “i checked with the SHETH , we do not make sapphire rings in this shop” she said “that stone should not even get a scratch on it” she added. we looked at each others face, anyway we didnt have much option now that the verdict was out. we took this opportunity for browsing on the gorgeous DIAMONDS and DIAMOND BRACELETS in the shop, offcourse utpala’s choices. we came out of the shop with no rings or bracelets but SUPERSITIONS in our minds.

“before making a ring i should first hire an astrologer”, we both agreed and had a hearty laugh on all the conversation in the shop.

i had to find few answers. after utpala left i went to CROSSWORD bookshop and straight in the ASTROLOGY & OCCULT section. i started saerching for books on astrology and gems, i found a few of them but in each of those books the birth stone for a DECEMBER born were different. to add to my agony, the birthstones changed religion wise!! plus no book mentioned on which finger the sapphire should be worn.

i did few searches on the internet with the same results as above. this was a good information i found on sapphire stones – International Colored Gemstone Association.

if anyone comes across this blog, would appreciate comments on
1. can i wear a sapphire ring (my birth date is 30th of DECEMBER)?
2. if “yes”, on which finger? and which hand?
3. is all what is believed about the sapphire true?
4. any reading material on this subject.