It's a dare, this. To wear a choker two inches thick in the band needs you to have a swan-neck and even then it's risky for the simple reason that it has to hold well and not tilt at the top becaus...

It's a dare, this. To wear a choker two inches thick in the band needs you to have a swan-neck and even then it's risky for the simple reason that it has to hold well and not tilt at the top because of the downward pull that's exerted upon it by the markedly elaborate pendant. It needs to sit snug around the neck without stiffening it or you could end up feeling as if you're wearing a gold cervical collar. All this needs seeing to ; fittings are a must ; and the actual wearer must be there for the final tryout. These are essential disciplines for a choker of this kind, and adherence is advised.

Ms.Sutanuka Khan ordered this with us for her wedding and you can see her wearing it in the photographs she so kindly sent us and which we shared with you on this page, three weeks ago. Her brief was to maintain the form of Sraboni, that she loved, with naksha details drawn from the Bengal Rose Choker. You thus see in the band a scrolling vine whose leaves and fully bloomed roses and buds create a stunning floral frieze that exudes the power of no less than the Pope's embroidered tippet and is as graceful as a generous border on a Do-Rokha Kashmiri shawl. The pattern, chased three times over, is of fairly high relief, and the pierced naksha does much to exude the feel of intricate carving on stone or wood. A simple twisted-wire and ball edging frames, protects and completes the choker which, of course, as tradition demands, is named 'Sutanuka'. The pendant, a pair of kissing kalkas, continues the rose theme, but here the rope border is also naksha and, in addition to the ball edge, there's a line of kajal-latas that differs the look of the locket so that when unhooked and worn separately, it stands on its own. This harmony-with-individuality aspect of the jewel is further confirmed by the kalka-phul drop in the centre and the large, barfi-chhela pradip piece with a single ball-karai drop towards the bottom, and these help make the pendant a charming, dramatic beaut, detached or attached.

Imparted a Bangla polish, designed to celebrate its owner for ever, and wrought by hand with extreme care, dexterity and love in the purest of pure guinea gold, this choker could easily be declared the ne plus ultra of the genre, but we'd never say that. For us, its success as a biyer goyna, its preservation as an heirloom, and its acknowledgement as an ornament invested with your soul is what matters. It must make you immortal.