The precious ring

A poor lemon-selling woman, who found it hard to meet her ends, found something precious and restores the same to its rightful owner. That changed her life once and for all. Read through ...

The prospective buyer asked, "Can you give me this basket of lemons for Rs.20?” It was the closing hours of the vegetable market. Dhanamma wanted to sell the balance of lemons, left over. She could not make any gainful gain till that time. So, she replied “That basket containing more than 30 lemons cost me Rs.40. Pay that and take the basket." But the other party was not budging. He said “No chance. The final price is Rs.30." Dhanamma reluctantly accepted and gave the basket of lemons for just Rs.30. She must have incurred more than that amount to buy those lemons. Finally, when the market was over, she was left with two baskets of lemons. She spent Rs.400 to buy the lemons but got back only just Rs.350. She cursed herself ' it seems another day of loss'. 

She found it very difficult to run a family of two, just her and her husband Pandu who was a daily laborer. Dhanamma used to buy lemons from a nearby lemon farm, take them to town in a sharing auto, located 10 km away, sell them at a vegetable market, and by evening return home by a sharing auto. After meeting the auto fare she was left with a paltry sum of profit. At times, she could not sell the entire lemons; sometimes she incurred losses, as happened that day.

At times there used to be no lemon yield on the farm and during such times she pressed herself into daily labor work in the town along with Pandu. For half the month Pandu used to remain idle due to no work. The blessing in disguise was they did not have children even though they wanted to have at least one.
One evening, Dhanamma, after making a profit of about fifty rupees, started from the market towards the main road to catch a sharing auto to return home. She did not wear any chappals. While walking, she felt something pricking her left foot. She bent down and found a small ring under her foot, rather shining. She took it and sat under a nearby tree and stared at it. She thought" This appears to be a precious ring. Better I ask my husband to sell it off and bring some money." But in the next moment, she thought" This must belong to someone else who must have lost it here. If I take it, it will amount to stealing. I don't want to do that." She looked here and there for some time to check whether someone came in search of the ring. After sitting for half an hour she kept the ring in her small inside purse and proceeded to her home. She shared the incident with Pandu. Pandu became tempted and told Dhanamma" It is a lifetime gift given by God. Let's sell it off and get some good amount so that we can enjoy life for some time". But Dhanamma was very particular that it must be returned to its owner. She told him “Have we ever earned money by stealing and other inappropriate means?".  Pandu told her" No. But this is a lifetime opportunity. The person who lost it must be a rich person. He can buy another gold ring." But Dhanamma was firm and clear that she would give it back to the genuine owner.  In a fit of irritation and anger, Pandu yelled “To hell with you and the ring"
The next day morning she carried lemons and also the ring to the market. In the afternoon she saw a man enquiring for something from the nearby vegetable vendors. But he did not approach Dhanamma. But thinking that he must be looking for his lost ring, she approached him voluntarily and asked him what the matter was.
The man told" I lost my precious ring yesterday. I don't know where it fell.  But no one seems to have found the ring."
Dhanamma told him immediately" Sir, please give a description of the ring." That man told”It is a golden ring, with sapphire stone fixed on it. The letter 'R' is affixed to it. '' Dhanamma knew a little bit of English, which she learned in her fifth standard. She knew that letter 'R' was affixed to it and the ring matched the description given by the man. 

Dhanamma showed the ring, still holding it in her hand, " Sir, see whether this is that ring". The man was stunned with joy “oh my God, This is the ring. This is the ring. I got it back. I got it back. It is a miracle. Madam, I thank you with folded hands for restoring my ring." Receiving the ring from her and placing it safely in the inside pocket of pants, he told her “Can you imagine the value of this ring?”

She said “No, Sir. I have not bought or worn any gold to date." The man whispered, “its worth is twenty-five lakhs of rupees". Dhanamma with all the innocence told him “Appears to be a big amount" and smiled.

Even though Dhanamma refused, he thrust Rs.1000/- in her hand, thanked her again with folded hands, and went back with a relief writ

on his face.

After three days the man came again to the market and met Dhanamma. He enquired about her family background and told her " Can you work as a maidservant in my house?. When she referred about her husband, he said" why not, he can work as a gardener.  There is a small outhouse where you two can stay. I hope he is honest like you." Dhanamma smiled. She told him “Sir, I thank you for your broad and helping mind. It will be our pleasure to work in your house." The man revealed his name as “Shanmugam", informing her that he was a businessman and purchased the gold ring for donating to a temple. He told her “I will come here again this coming Thursday around the same time. Be ready, with your baggage including your husband.  I will take you to my house. " 

Dhanamma could not believe what was happening in her life. She thought God has shown mercy on her and had sent the gentleman Shanmugam to release her from the lemon bondage. That evening when she informed Pandu about this, he hugged her tightly and started dancing. He was always fond of staying in a city and when he came to know that they had to stay in the city, his joy knew no bounds. He suddenly cried in tears and told Dhanamma “My dear, I am sorry for my bad intentions on that day when you returned with a golden ring. Now with your honest act, you are going to give our life, a new lease. Forgive me for that shameful act on my part." Dhanamma replied “Never mind dear.  Let us continue to be honest in our life. That is what makes us as real human beings".

As promised, Shanmugam came to the market, picked up the two with their luggage, and took them to the nearby city, to his house.

 
In 3 months' time, Dhanamma got conceived. The couple was praying for a child for more than fifteen years.  Dhanamma told the rich man Shanmugam "Sir, it is such a good time, we entered your house. I am in the family way after fifteen years of our marriage." Shanmugam and his wife congratulated her.

After one week, as if a sheer coincidence Shanmugam’s wife got conceived after 15 years of their marriage. She called Dhanamma and gave her new clothes and sweets. She told her “After you have come to our house, so many good things are happening. You are a good omen for us.  Like you, I am conceived too after fifteen years of our marriage."   

Shanmugam got the ring made as specified by his Guru, who was a staunch believer in astrology. In fact, when the rich man told his Guru about the loss of the ring on the same day, he told him" oh, it is good you have lost it. Don't worry even a bit about its loss. From now onwards you will have excellent times. As planned you will donate a precious gold to the temple ". True to his words, Shanmugam found the happenings both on his personal and business front were events and milestones of success. 

There at Dhanamma's village, one of her village friends, by name Mangamma came to know about the fortune that transformed Dhanamma's life. Hoping to strike a similar fortune, Mangamma started visiting the vegetable market every day and walked on the road, looking carefully for any gold ornament on either side of the road, misplaced by some rich person.