-- By Tom Phillips
Everyone in Jaipur is either buying or selling, bargaining or begging. This capital of Rajastan's jewelry, textile and clothing industries is the most commercial city I've ever seen. At this point, words like "crass" may occur to the American reader -- but Jaipur is anything but crass.
I came only because my traveling buddy Rusty has a jewelry business in America, with gold and stones he buys wholesale in Jaipur. We spent a couple of afternoons with his suppliers, and while I know and care nothing about jewelry, I found myself drawn in by the beauty of the merchandise. Barefoot and crossed-legged on a mat, I watched Rusty sort through tiny gold medallions etched with intricate images from Hindu scripture and legend. The work was so tiny and fine it seemed impossible to have come from human hands, but there it was -- the goddess Durga riding through a forest on a lion, on a half-inch square of pure gold.
The next day we visited a Muslim dealer in semi-precious stones, and by then I was into it. We went through bags of lapis lazuli, malachite, chalcedony, garnet, opal and a dozen more minerals painted and shaped by nature, on their way to the world's bazaar.
Back at the hotel the buzz is among the fabric buyers -- about the brilliant colors and intricate patterns laid before them by the metre. But you don't have to go to a dealer to see Rajanstan's textiles on display. Every kind of woman from maharani to street sweeper is draped in a sari of the most vivid red, green, yellow, saffron, ochre, turquoise etc etc.
Why is the West so drab? An Israeli buyer told me it is because we no longer use natural fabrics. Vivid polyester doesn't exist. Unable to breathe, it also lacks the capacity to absorb color -- and this is why the poor countries of Asia and Africa are so much richer in their vestments.
Walking the chaotic streeets of Jaipur in my blended cotton polyester 2 percent spandex khaki slacks from L.L. Bean, I fade into the junk heaps by the side of the road. Even the black hijabs on the Muslim women and their husbands' white kurtas are more vivid than my synthetic beige.
Spandex is crass. Zirconium is crass. But Jaipur doesn't need them. Here, they make money with real things.
-- Copyright 2019 by Tom Phillips
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| Street sweeper, Jaipur |
I came only because my traveling buddy Rusty has a jewelry business in America, with gold and stones he buys wholesale in Jaipur. We spent a couple of afternoons with his suppliers, and while I know and care nothing about jewelry, I found myself drawn in by the beauty of the merchandise. Barefoot and crossed-legged on a mat, I watched Rusty sort through tiny gold medallions etched with intricate images from Hindu scripture and legend. The work was so tiny and fine it seemed impossible to have come from human hands, but there it was -- the goddess Durga riding through a forest on a lion, on a half-inch square of pure gold.
The next day we visited a Muslim dealer in semi-precious stones, and by then I was into it. We went through bags of lapis lazuli, malachite, chalcedony, garnet, opal and a dozen more minerals painted and shaped by nature, on their way to the world's bazaar.
Back at the hotel the buzz is among the fabric buyers -- about the brilliant colors and intricate patterns laid before them by the metre. But you don't have to go to a dealer to see Rajanstan's textiles on display. Every kind of woman from maharani to street sweeper is draped in a sari of the most vivid red, green, yellow, saffron, ochre, turquoise etc etc.
Why is the West so drab? An Israeli buyer told me it is because we no longer use natural fabrics. Vivid polyester doesn't exist. Unable to breathe, it also lacks the capacity to absorb color -- and this is why the poor countries of Asia and Africa are so much richer in their vestments.
Walking the chaotic streeets of Jaipur in my blended cotton polyester 2 percent spandex khaki slacks from L.L. Bean, I fade into the junk heaps by the side of the road. Even the black hijabs on the Muslim women and their husbands' white kurtas are more vivid than my synthetic beige.
Spandex is crass. Zirconium is crass. But Jaipur doesn't need them. Here, they make money with real things.
-- Copyright 2019 by Tom Phillips
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| 2 Guys from New Jersey |
We look like brothers in the picture.
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