Man with a golden mask

There seems to be no end to Indians’ obsession with gold. A Pune resident spent Rs.2.89 lakh to make for himself a mask made of gold to wear during COVID-19, according to reports.
Shankar Kurade loves wearing gold ornaments and his body is covering with jewellery.
“It’s a thin mask with minute holes so that there is no difficulty in breathing. I am not sure whether this mask will be effective,” said Mr Kurade, resident of Pimpri-Chinchwad of Pune district. The idea struck him when he saw a man wearing a silver mask on the social media. He said that if his family members want one for each of them he would get it designed for them too.
Mr. Kurade has been fond of gold ornaments and that is the reason he wears gold rings in all the fingers, gold bracelets on his wrist and huge gold chains around his neck.
Incidentally, a man who runs a jewellery enterprise in Belgaum district on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border, has added silver masks to his wedding collection and business has been booming ever since he hit upon the unique sales pitch.
Each silver mask that Sandeep Sagaonkar sells, weighs between 25 and 35 grams, with the price ranging Rs.2,500 to Rs.3,500, similar to top quality N95 masks. Orders have to be placed at least a couple of days in advance.
The idea has sparked off imitations in the local marks with several other jewellers in the region also offering similar masks. The choice of precious metal has remained silver since gold would take up the price to Rs. 30,000 with no guarantee of takers.