After our awe-inspiring visit to the Taj Mahal, we boarded
the train to Jaipur. See how the trip ends, after the jump...
Our first morning
there we went to see Amer Fort and Palace.
The trip began with an elephant ride to the top of the hill. Amazing!
It was such a unique experience and we only almost fell off twice. :) One interesting thing we learned was the
deceptive business practices of some of the vendors at the base of the
fort. They try to confuse people by
quoting prices in dollars instead of rupees and we learned that the best way to
rid yourself of these vendors is by refusing to acknowledge them – a very handy
tip!
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| Our elephant and driver were the best! |
In the afternoon we visited the
head office of Jaipur Rugs. It was a
great opportunity to see the business first-hand after studying it in class all
quarter. We received a brief overview
and tour of the company before leaving for the day. That evening we visited an ethnic theme
park. It was a lot of fun to just let go
and have fun like kids! We danced to
traditional music, rode a camel, had our fortunes told, and ate a very
traditional dinner. It was also a very
scary street crossing. This served as a
reminder of how fortunate we are to have cross walks and street lights that
motorists actually pay attention to.
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| Getting my fortune read |
The
next morning we headed out to visit a village where several of the residents
are artisans that make hand-knotted rugs for Jaipur Rugs. All I can say is that it was an eye-opening
experience. Sometimes we can forget the
life of privilege that we lead here in the United States. It was such a humbling experience for me to
visit this village and see the people who work so hard and have so little
(respectively), yet to see them happy and friendly. All through India I saw rampant poverty, but
they are truly some of the happiest and warmest people I have every met. Maybe when materialism is given a lower
priority, the things that truly make people happy take a more prominent role in
people’s lives. It’s a lesson that many
of us would be wise to learn. I was very
happy to see the role that the Jaipur Rugs Foundation takes in improving the
quality of life for these artisans. I
was especially touched by the amount of effort given to empowering local
women. By giving them the opportunity to
receive a basic education and effectively becoming business people, they have a
chance to improve the lives of their family.
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| Folks, this is how hand-knotted carpets are made! |
The following day we met at the Jaipur office head quarters once
again. We were separated into groups and
had the opportunity to spend some time with senior staff members. I was in the internet marketing group and it
was a great experience! We worked with
Rajesh Gautam, who is responsible for the website, social media, and catalog
aspects of the company. It was a great
learning experience and I hope Mr. Gautam was able to benefit from our input,
as we learned a great deal from him.
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| Jaipur Rugs Head Office |
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