In the 76 years since India gained independence, 53 recipients of the Bharat Ratna have been there.
That's less than one every year, which is a healthy ratio given there is the sanctity of this gem of an award to preserve.
But four recipients for the year were announced in a few days in addition to one announced earlier.
That took the total number in 2024 to five in less than a month, the highest for any year, post-Independence, notes Shyam G Menon.
It was some time since the shop assistant disappeared into the room behind the shop used as a storeroom.
In that while, I had heard the sound of much stuff being moved around. There were a couple of sneezes and coughs typically associated with inhaling dust.
Then I saw him emerge from the room. His face frozen into an expression of discomfort betrayed the one breath taken some time back on which, he was still surviving.
In his extended left hand, he held far from his body, the item he had mined through inventory and dug out in the storeroom.
A cloth in the other hand, accomplished the job of dusting it. The act sent his colleague and a customer he was attending to nearby, temporarily scurrying away.
Dust removed and breath taken afresh, the shop assistant approached me triumphantly.
"This," he said, "is what you need. Nobody makes this anymore. Even the manufacturer has disappeared. Our owner's father was far sighted.
"He insisted that the product's time would come. So, although we didn't sell any pieces given the higher cost, he refused to condemn the inventory to trash.
"Hold on to it," he advised. Sadly sir, he passed away five years ago. But what he said has come true.
"You came asking for exactly such product specifications. Feel this fabric sir and look at this metal structure within -- strong, super strong. Nothing will get through it. Brand? Jewel sir, Jewel brand."
I looked at the umbrella. The assistant continued, "this sir, can take on hail. And see, unlike today's umbrellas which fold twice and thrice, this is the good, old-fashioned single-piece. Sturdy and big. It will protect you."
My problem had started in early February 2024. It was climate change no doubt but not the sort of climate we usually refer to.
It was political climate and at the heart of this particular issue, lay the concept of a gem or gemstone.
As any geologist or gemologist would tell you, a variety of special circumstances -- ranging from apt zones in the Earth's interior to heat, pressure and the type of minerals available -- go into the creation of gemstones.
Then the planet has to push the crystals up to shallower depths accessible to human beings and their technology, for us to finally get those glittering wonders.
All in all, it's a process that takes much time in nature and given the associated literary notion of a gem was founded in times when the natural process and not modern-day synthetic alternatives held sway, the word became an attribute for that which was precious and rare.
A gem of a person -- it meant a rare and fantastic specimen of the human being; one possessing qualities not commonly seen.
Awards have tried to echo this attribute in the realm of human life. Especially at the top of the awards heap.
A best film or a best album in music has to be ideally one; maximum two and certainly not juries attempting to please all sections of the audience by squeezing in a dozen.
When gems fall from the sky, it is like an intellectual hail; an act of the brain being pummeled or stoned and eventually, the underlying value of gemstone eroded by over-supply.
It's what happened in early February. In the 76 years since India gained independence from the British, 53 recipients of the Bharat Ratna (the country's highest civilian awards) have been there.
That's less than one every year, which is a healthy ratio given there is the sanctity of this gem of an award to preserve.
But in that fateful phase in 2024, four recipients for the year were announced in the short span of a few days and, it was in addition to one announced earlier on January 23.
That took the total number in 2024 to five in less than a month, the highest for any year, post-Independence.
The climate had suddenly changed. It was raining Bharat Ratna. And being gems, it felt like hail.
I had no option but to dive into the umbrella shop and seek a strong specimen out, in of all seasons -- summer! Yes, it was early February; technically winter for the world but in Mumbai, the heat had begun.
As always, the beauty of a gem depends on the aesthetic sense of the beholder. To be fair, all of them didn't hurt me equally.
Former prime minister Narasimha Rao -- I thought that was a richly deserved Bharat Ratna (not to mention -- a political masterstroke, which must have left the Congress party smarting) given Dr Manmohan Singh as finance minister initiating the basic steps of liberalization happened during his innings as head of the government.
Today's boast of a multi-trillion dollar-decontrolled economy stands on the shoulders of that radical departure from India's previously set ways in economics.
After his tenure as prime minister, Rao had been a key figure forced into the shadows.
Equally well-deserved was the Bharat Ratna for Dr M S Swaminathan, whose scientific intervention and the Green Revolution that followed, helped feed millions in India.
Some, like the Bharat Ratna for L K Advani, however made its impact on landing really felt, courtesy its jagged edge.
The influence of elections around the corner was visible in both the choices made and the temporary hiatus on preserving rarity as a value.
What worried and got me running for protection from the hail, was the absence of an official announcement on 2024 recipients being capped at five.
No thus far and no further -- not yet, from the government. Will there be more? I couldn't risk it.
I bought the Jewel brand umbrella. That evening, as I walked home beneath the shelter it offered, the heavens held.
Five seemed it, but then like I said -- who knows? So, if in the heat of Mumbai's summer, you see a middle-aged man walking fast under a large old-fashioned umbrella, throwing nervous glances up at the sky; you know that's me.
As for that shop with more such umbrellas for sale, its address is a bit, Harry Potteresque.
You have to access the least known platform at Mumbai's busiest railway terminus and walk right through the nearby wall, into a world of fiction and fantasy beyond.
Shyam G Menon is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
