Samsaara : Devadoot

A Walk to Remember

Since the time I found that hairpin, I always kept it close to me; either in my trusty old knapsack, in my wallet, or in one of my pockets. I needed to find a safer way to keep it close to me and someplace I could have access to it immediately. I went to a local goldsmith and showed him the pin, and asked him suggestions on how to get it done.

He was impressed by the workmanship of the pin. According to him, the gold used in the pin had the appearance, colour and lustre of the purest gold but unlike pure gold, it was not malleable at all. In fact, he was unable to get any on the scratch plate to test for its purity. The ruby on the back was hollow and filled with some liquid. Which was another problem, he said you do not find hollow rubies in nature, this was something man made.

So he concluded, the artefact which I had in my possession was a beautiful fake. Not that I cared, I merely wanted to find a way to keep it close to me. The goldsmith suggested that I should get it fastened to my neck with a locket and chain. I had some money left over from the odd case that I get, along with some rewards from lost and found cases. I spent a bit of it to make a thin gold-alloy chain so that it couldn't be broken as easily as pure gold. Gold braces around the ruby clasped it firmly and suspended by a chain. Around my neck and close to my heart it felt just right.

On reaching home I thought I should inspect the goldsmith's work carefully so I took it out and held the chain in my hands. Despite the initial appearance, the craftsmanship was somewhat flawed. The pin did not hang straight, pointing down towards the ground. It pointed diagonally forward. Re-adjusting the attitude, I observed its angle and it was still diagonal. I stood up, turned towards my door, so as to have the goldsmith fix it right away. As I was turning, I noticed something strange.

Although I turned around, the pin was still facing the same direction. Inertia was being unreasonable, I thought. So I turned the chain another half a turn, the chain kept twisting on itself but the pin did not move. This reaction of maintaining its orientation was much like a compass or a gyroscope. I turned the chain to untangle it, and then pulled the pin downward towards the floor. As soon as I let my hand go, it angled itself again. Since the metal was not gold in the goldsmith's opinion, it could easily be a ferromagnetic material I thought. To verify my assumption, I took out an old plotting compass that I had to compare its orientation to the north-south direction. It was not pointing along the compass and was rather pointed in the north east and south west direction.

Funnily enough, when I brought the compass close to the pin, the compass also aligned itself to the same direction as the pin rather than it being the other way round. It was time for my medicines and they were bound to make me sleepy. So I decided to put my experiments and exploration on hold and took a nap.

Evening came, and with it came the anticipation for the next step. Before I had gone to sleep I had wondered; The compass points to the poles and aligns itself along the magnetic lines of force but what was the pin pointing to? It was evident it pointed to something but what it pointed to, was anybody's guess.