There's a call for us to become children occasionally and view the universe as a mobile rotating merrily above us, its bits and pieces of wood or plastic decorations stirred to motion by a gentle b...

There's a call for us to become children occasionally and view the universe as a mobile rotating merrily above us, its bits and pieces of wood or plastic decorations stirred to motion by a gentle breeze wafting in from an open window or from a fan regulated for a caring circulation of air such as would be comfortable for an infant. This mobile then assumes the representation of a world unknown to adults but wholly engaging and delightful for the child ---- in fact, it's the whole of the universe to her or him : a moving constellation of wonder set against the sky of the ceiling.

The reason we go back to this state (at least the fortunate ones among us do) from time to time is to simplify things, simplify life, simplify ourselves. That helps. We realise how beautiful life is when reduced to a baby’s merry-go-round in the sky, marking time with its slow and uncalculated turns ---- a cheerful symbol of the joy divine. Paisleys, topas and paktar come together with discipline in this magnificent metaphor of a jhumka, the striations clear and the layout symmetrical. The kalka-ball pashas are detachable and the canopy jhumka holds the eight cascade chains in a circle, framing the central mini topi jhumka that's placed at the end of its own slightly longer bichha chain. The ball-karai clapper extends the earring and proves an effective finishing flourish. Also, the single ball fringe on the jhumka makes it more alive to the world and the whole earring, with its chain appurtenances, becomes a universe of infinite delight to the child in us.

There is a time for stillness. The Merry-Go-Round Jhumka knows that not one bit. On our ears, this meticulously hand-wrought marvel is constantly kinetic : moving, twirling, swaying, and swishing in a way that generates a certain joie de vivre when there's none going around, and adds gaiety to any event it’s worn to. Unequivocally, this is an ornament of enduring happiness, and it comes at a time when we all need a good dose of that to negate the dark and chthonic happenings of the last year.

Delight in its simple magic!