Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – Uzma Bashir sleeps most nights with her phone beside her pillow. She often wakes, not to check her messages, but she is getting married in the summer and is monitoring the price of gold.“In [Indian-administered] Kashmir, gold is not just an ornament, it is dignity. It determines how you will be treated in your in-laws’ home,” said the 29-year-old, an accountant at a consultancy firm in the region’s main city of Srinagar.Bashir makes less than $100 a month. She had hoped to buy her wedding jewellery with her own earnings to avoid burdening her parents.Across South Asia, where patriarchy often defines weddings, gold has long travelled with a bride into her new home, not just as an ornament, but also as protection from harassment – and even violence – as in-laws often demand a hefty dowry from the bride’s family.“How much gold a woman owns often becomes equal to how she will be valued,” Bashir told Al Jazeera. “My parents have already done enough for me. But I can’t afford even a single ring. It costs nearly three months of my salary”. A goldsmith in Srinagar displays 150 grams of pure gold costing around $27,500 as gold prices soar [Sadaf Shabir/Al Jazeera]‘Dramatic shift’Record gold prices this year have hit jewellery purchases across South Asia, with the precious metal hitting a hi …
