Jaipur

The Pink City is the home to Jaipur Rugs, the company we came to evaluate. It is called the Pink City because one of the kings, in the 17^th Century designated this city as his capital and his color as pink. Jaipur is clean, friendly and has a lot going for it. My first impression was that it was going to be a smaller City as compared to New Delhi, and maybe it is, but it is definitely more accessible. But it wasn’t India as we necessarily came to learn. Jaipur served as an access to the remote parts of India. We visited the villages and found things to be in a word…..different.  You have little places of worship dotting the landscape next to the villages, women working in the fields and working on the looms trying to provide for themselves along with the help of their kids. 

The villages we visited while in Jaipur were impoverished. They didn’t have a phone or a television. They had their places of worship, each other and their looms. They didn’t even have running water, but struck me profoundly was that they all seemed happy. They were happy to be working, happy to answer any and all of our questions and happy to see different people.

            The work of the Jaipur Rugs Foundation impressed me greatly.  One thing caught my attention was the education they were providing the women of the villages were empowering and engaging them. 

The women ranged in age from 16 to one lady who was sitting in the back (just as engaged) who was at least in her 60s. They were able to ask questions of us and even come up with (innovative) ideas to help facilitate furthering their education by making it more convenient for them. When suggested, they even seemed to think about running for office in their village in order to help make things easier for them. The power these women now have by having the ability to read, do math and even signing their own name is inspiring and I now know that I have been taking my own literacy, and all the benefits provided, for granted. 

In another village, one woman asked us if we could take her to visit America. That engagement and hope is incredible and I know that India’s transformation to a world superpower is inevitable with the establishment of women’s rights. 

Overall, my impression is that although India still has a long way, groups such as the Jaipur Rugs Foundation are paving the way for empowerment of not only women but of impoverished villages that would have no other way of getting resources.             

Jaipur Rugs business method of doing business, from what we saw, is the way many businesses should be geared. Not necessarily the exact business model, but its humanitarian focus and willingness to tackle these topics on their own. Social responsibility is what consumers are beginning to demand of the corporate world. Social responsibility is what Jaipur has demonstrated. Kudos.

P.S. The elephants were so much fun. J