"The jeweller, who had heard many such stories, returned the money without complaint." What does this…

When Anjali received her first salary, eleven thousand rupees for a month at the call centre, she knew at once what she would buy. Her mother had worn the same pair of thin gold bangles for as long as Anjali could remember, and one of them had a crack that she hid under her sleeve.

On Saturday Anjali went to the jeweller's, chose a simple new bangle and paid for it with almost half her salary. All the way home on the bus she held the small red box in her lap.

Her mother opened it, looked at the bangle for a long moment, and then closed the box again.

"It's beautiful," she said quietly. "Now take it back."

Anjali stared at her. "Take it back? Why?"

"Because I know what you earn, and I know you need new shoes for your interviews. These bangles were my mother's. I don't need new ones. I need to see you walk into an office in good shoes."

Anjali argued, then cried a little, and finally went back to the shop. The jeweller, who had heard many such stories, returned the money without complaint.

That evening she came home with a pair of black shoes, and a small bag of jalebis for her mother. Her mother ate one slowly and said it was the best gift anyone had ever bought her. Anjali was not sure whether to believe her, but she noticed that her mother was wearing the cracked bangle with her sleeve pushed back.