!3th Edition- Coming home

Done !
In the end 400 Kilos have been sent to Arundel.
The last few days have been extremely busy hence the lack of writing.
My mother persuaded me to buy her some jewellery so I managed to fit that in today.
I really look forward to coming home and seeing my family. It seems even the weather here is preparing me as it has just started to rain after a sultry day.
A spicy day was also on the menu, thanks to lunch at Shyam's - the exporter. A very pleasent afternoon was passed eating Thali, basically a big silver plate with many different dishes. I was secretly very grateful for this as I've been very tight with money and not exactly eating the most lavish of food.
Thank you for reading this and the other blogs. I wish It could have been better and hopefully it will be next time.
Your bangles are on the way.

England here I come.
dominic

12th Edition-Mission accomplished

So I was very excitedly doing the calculations of figures and logistics last night. I wasn't sure that i could pull it off in the little time left.

The wheels are in process for another new product. A complimentary product. It's the sari jewellery bag.

These products I know are fast selling and very much appreciated by customers. Jam Gallery (my mothers jewellery shop) have sold these in great quantity. Customers love great packaging and I honestly believe that the sari jewellery bag helps to sell the bracelets. These bags are not only very good looking but also very very competitively priced.

Now if you look on the Internet you will find these typically selling for around £2 upwards. I plan to sell them for around 38 pence!

So today's mission was to contact a wholesaler of a certain type of sari, get a good price and make sure that he can provide the correct colours in quantity at a drop of a hat. Mission accomplished! It took a lot of asking around but it seems that we are on to a winner as far as the supplier is concerned.

My man in Madras-Prasad, has agreed to help me out when I am not in India. His role will be buying from the supplier and taking them to get made, checking the quality and sending. At first he was a little sceptical as he was a little worried about the responsibility of taking my bank transfered money. He also realized (after visiting a few suppliers) that it would be quite easy to be cheated and therefore didn't want to compromise our business relationship. Prasad has now been put at ease after visiting the supplier and I'm sure will feel confident after visiting the stitcher.

The bags will be handed out at the next trade fair with sample bracelets. I will also send samples to all my existing customers.

That's about it for me today. I heard that it was snowing in England. What can I say?

Good night England

dominic

11th Edition- Rooftop breakfast

The day started early with a long trip out to Prasad's. The sky above being crystal clear coupled with a wind led to a breezy and slightly chilly affair whilst driving in the rickshaw.

Eggs, bread, fruit, cereal, tea. This is my usual breakfast here in India. This is precisely what I got at Prasad's, plus a couple of extras like samosa and rasmalai (sweet). Prasad had remembered an earlier conversation and made sure that I was given the breakfast that I loved. This was in fact my second breakfast, enjoyed on the roof of the house.

The second shipment left yesterday. These are the new style big bangles. The total weight of these was 170 Kilos. I pay 270 rupees, just under £4 a kilo to send them correctly (above board). On top of this I paid for the packaging of 16 boxes, including the stitching of cloth around the box, this cost me 1100 rupees, roughly £11. It takes a long time. As long as you demonstrate how to pack the first couple of boxes in the way you want then you are free to let "the boys" get on with it.

I have kindly been invited to dinner with the shipping agents family on Saturday night. I look forward to it and will let you know how it went.

I also spent an hour or so calculating the feasibility of importing handmade sari jewellery bags. I used to provide my mothers shop with these but the ladies making them got forced to stop due to jealousy from different factions in their village. Having found someone else to do them I am excited at the prospect. I buy the materials -saris, lining, thread and ribbon and let the stitcher stitch. I am having samples made so lets see.

Have a good day England.From warm India.

dominic

10th Edition- Love is in the air

It is Tuesday evening. The last two days have been hectic to say the least.

The photo here is of me in the dark alley of the export company sitting on my stash.

My business cards are being printed as we speak as are the compliment slips. Stamps with company details are being made. Sari jewellery bracelet bags are being sewn. Best of all though is 14,000 sari bracelets are winging their way to Arundel. I hope. Until I get the tracking number I will be a little nervous.

The photo above is of me sitting in the dark alley of the freighting company sitting on my stash.Notice the t-shirt england and this is night time!

The show is not yet over. I've still got to wade through a whole mountain of bracelets, included are the new style bracelets. The very hard work though does seem to be over. Prasad has his bank and exporter license all signed up and there seems to be a good system in place.

In between all this sending packing and paperwork, I have also manged to buy a few presents. Namely silk bed covers. I have had a fair few requests for these from friends and family both in England and Italy.

Early start tomorrow, I will breakfast at Prasad's before we start to work . He lives a million miles away so I might get some sleep in the rickshaw. I wish.

Ooh. One thing I forgot to tell you. It is a very auspicious time to get married at the moment so there are hundreds of weddings going on at the moment. Fireworks galore and bands parading in the streets with guests and elephants in tow. I caught the eye of one of the all dressed up grooms surrounded by all this colourful confusion, I smiled and wished him good luck as I passed by on the cycle rickshaw, he gently smiled back.

I must say I felt a little envious as I enjoyed my wedding day so much. One day is not long enough for a wedding. The freighting manager is going to two wedding parties tonight, he kindly offered me to go along. Could have been interesting, even though I tend to stay away from these functions (too long), anyway work and sleep came as a handy and genuine excuse. Maybe next time.

Goodnight England,

dominic

9th Edition-Time is tight

It was 07.15 am. Manoj had his flight at 08.15 am. The airport being 25 minutes away at top speed meant that catching the flight was unlikely.

Somehow Manoj did get on the flight and is now in Calcutta. Being alone is not a problem for me. I'm very busy and there are a few other opportunities I would like to take advantage of.

There is a little chap I know who is very able on the sewing machine. He has agreed to make me up some samples of jewellery bags. First I will buy the sari material and he should have a sample of 150 pieces done for me within a day. My only problem is time.

There is still plenty to sort out but time is running out. Prasad should get his export license through on Tuesday, when this happens we can send the first shipment of 12000-14000 bracelets. Packing of these will I hope take place Monday ( tomorrow night ).

The Muslim area is very colourful here and you can always find what you need, if you ask a few shopkeepers. Yesterday I came across big tin box trunks roughly 1 metre long and 50 centimetres deep. I managed to fit ten in the back, front and roof of a transport rickshaw and took them back to my guesthouse, I was squeezed somewhere in between the boxes at a very odd angle. The rickshaw driver asked me something in Tamil which I believed meant-do you want to go the longer comfortable way ? Or the shorter way through the markets ? He laughed when I said "fast fast". It was a very jerky 25 minutes. So much so was the spectacle of a white man travelling amongst ten silver trunks, trying to keep my legs in, that I was offered a free cup of tea as we passed the chai stand. On arrival I tried to sneak the boxes into my room without raising too many eyebrows from the owners of the guesthouse, I don't believe I was too successful.

So today has been a little calmer. A little quality control with Prasad's brother was about it. Shopping was on the programme for today but I felt myself a little weak, so went to get a haircut instead . Think I shall retire to the veranda order a pot of tea and fall asleep.

Good night England

dominic

8th Edition-Little sleep lots of progress

What can I say?
The last 48 hours has offered me 6 hours sleep, 17000 sari bracelets, 2 hours of excellent feeding and probably 42 hours of worry.
A large amount of Sari bracelets have arrived from the village. Including a large amount of wrong colour Sari bracelets have arrived from the village, thankfully not all 17000.
Having been informed that the bracelets had arrived i made my way to Prasad's house on the back of his dusty scooter.
We hired a rickshaw and transported them to my guest house room. I have only left this room twice in the last 48 hours, once this morning to see off Manoj, he's going to Calcutta for an art exhibition, the other time being when we all fed ourselves to the brim courtesy of Prasad's wife.
Our feast at Prasad's was cancelled for 2 minutes. The realization that 30 % of the stock was incorrect came as a gutting blow. Dinner was cancelled we were all going to work like mad men to do as much as possible. Prasad made the phonecall to his wife, "please to stop cooking, only working is going". Prasad looked bitterly disappointed, he had spent a great deal on the best mutton and chicken that he could afford. On top of this his wife had been cooking for the whole afternoon. It was an honour to receive and be received to this meal.
Plainly i felt very bad for Prasad and as soon as i put the phone down i had changed my mind. It was all back on and Prasad could not stop smiling for the rest of the evening. Although the dinner could not be at a worst time, it was also very good to have a break.
Manoj did his best to not eat everything. That boy has not yet stopped eating since arriving. We arrived. Prasad lives in a small house inhabited by three generations of his family. We ate in his bedroom. The table cloth was spread out on the bed and Prasad ordered his younger brother around to help prepare things. The brother just followed orders.
Mutton stew, fried chicken, rice and mutton, salad, naan, rasmalai pudding and fruit
were all laid on. This wasn't a meal for three this could have easily have fed seven. Surrounded by some quite peculiar kitsch plastic bits and pieces in glass cabinets and jazzy green wallpaper. We were given- myself and Manoj, the two glasses in the cabinet and poured sprite. This was quite a proud moment for Prasad. The dinner had gone down perfectly and the lemonade in the best glasses was a type of toast to the success. Prasad's son - Ibrahim, had come and joined us during the meal, it was late for a boy of four but he was still awake. The bed we were eating on was also Ibrahim's bed that he shared with his parents. Manoj was introduced as "uncle". I'm not sure as what i was introduced as but the little chap came over and gave me a big tired cuddle. Very sweet indeed.
After presenting Prasad's father with a box of sweets we made our way back to the guesthouse to work.
I can't say Manoj was the biggest help when counting and checking quality. This was plain to see when he fell asleep on my bed with Prasad's crash helmet on. Prasad just shook his head in disappointment. Manoj is the creative provider of ideas and a very good communicator. He has made a massive difference to this trip for me, all good i must say.
I am currently waiting on the veranda for Prasad to turn up.
He's here.
A short update will come later this evening.

Have a good day England
dominic

7th Edition-Too too much to do

Can't speak. Too buisy. I will explain tomorrow.
Good evening England,
dominic

6th Edition-Meeting the team and Muslim mutton

The day had come to meet the workers. I was very happy to do so. We pulled up outside the juice bar to meet Prasad. He was a little flustered but very happy to show us our "taxi". Manoj was not so happy to see the taxi. "We can't do a 170 km's in that". It was a tut tut. "No problems Manoj it will be very comfortable". Said Prasad. "No Prasad, it will not be happening like this today,we shall find a taxi car", was the response.

Well thank god we did take the taxi car. It took 3.5 hours.

Once there we met Hemelata and her family. Hemelata (pictured above) is typical of the people who are making these Sari Bracelets. There are now scores of these families who make the bracelets in thier own homes. When I went up on the roof I saw at least three people making our bracelets on their rooves. The device Hemelata uses is a simple wooden machine. Each bracelet typically takes about ten seconds for the silk to be wound around the tube. This will then be sent to a chap who finishes it with a golen "geri".

The families whom we have asked to make bracelets for us a more than happy to do so as it means an extra income for them. I am sure that this system we have in place would be deemed as Fair Trade, so I am pleased. I asked if there was anything that we could do to make things more comfortable for them-"No" was the answer, but if I wanted, they would change things for me !

With regards to quantity Hemelata said that she reckons she can make 200-400 pieces a day. I said that the speed was not the most important thing for us as we have many people making, more important is the the quality. This business is not yet full time work for them but im hoping with some good promotion that we can at least give them a lot more part time work

The visit finished with a bang when I lavished sweets on the kids of the village, it was a little wild but a very enjoyable to experience. See photos.

We finished off the day by going to a muslim restaurant. Very nice mutton "Number 1 in whole of madras". As Prasad said. See photo-washing up room.

You may be happy to learn that Manoj has infact been invited to dinner at Prasad's tomorrow night. His fist struck the roof of the car in celebration when asked.

Good night England
dominic

5th Edition.Platform 2

The Madras to Jaipur train was 4 hours late last night. It was meant to leave platform 2 at 9.15pm. Instead it left when half of the 450 or so travellers with all their wears were fast asleep. Lots of the others were watching the bad quality film on the very loud televisions, or drinking tea talking and looking admiringly at the Palace on Wheels train, that had pulled in to platform 3. Myself and Manoj were accompanying two English girls off to Jodhpur. We had got chatting to them earlier and thought it best to make sure they had no problems at the station.

This small episode was a real pleasure. The train stations in India are alway buisy places and drinking tea whilst watching all the people is really quite enjoyable.

I contacted Prasad. We will leave for the villages tomorrow to visit our latest employees. I am very much looking forward to this to get back on track. I'm feeling a little lazy, today was a slow business day, not much to do. I took the oppurtunity to take a dutch girl on a mini tour of the city. Her company was exellent, even when I insisted on searching out the best places to make business cards and stamps.

I look forward to a very original and fulfilling day tomorrow.

Good night England

dominic

4th Edition- A very good cup of masala chai

What a very very buisy day.

A languid start to the day was followed by a rush of business, a cup of chai and a tandori chicken.

Manoj and I went to meet Prasad. I was happy to just meet to arrange a day suitable for both of us to go and supervise the Sari Bracelet team of workers. Well I thought (incorrectly), that he had initially found an area close by to recruit the makers. Wrong. "That'll be 170 kilometres away then, will it Prasad ?" I cant wait for the journey, Indian roads are so soothing. We go on Thursday. Luckily we have ill boy Manoj who said he couldn't face the journey in his state. Lucky in the sense that his actual words were-"no way. Ok, im paying, we'll go by private taxi". I will tell you on Thursday how much the bill comes to.

"Two chai ten rupees!" said Prasad "Man i've never paid 5 rupees for a cup of tea. Madras is getting expensive" Baring in mind that 5 rupees is the equivalent to about 7 pence I had to disagree with him. After drinking the tea Prasad gave in and said "Top three chai wallah in Madras." It was a very nice cup of tea. Not sure how clean the water was though. See photo.

So we went to the freighting company today to find out about shipping, taxes, import/export license etc. Before leaving England the Customs and Excise told me that I would have to pay 4% import tax plus 17.5% VAT. On top of this I will pay various shipping and handling charges at both ends and I will have to have all the correct paperwork for exporting. There are two ways of doing all this. I opted for the "very pukka and correct" way. I'm running on a very tight budget so I can't afford to get my fingers burnt. You see I have never exported in such quantity, so I am a little anxious that everything goes without a hitch. Before leaving the offices. Hang on a minute ! Just to let you know. These were the third set of shipping offices we had visited in the space of two hours. You would think that they would be close together, no chance, we've been all over town today. Tired? Yes you might say that. Traffic is never pleasent. Traffic in rush hour in Madras, well that's something else. So, before leaving the offices we also managed to set Prasad up with a bank account (the shipping agent is quite influential and has a little man running back and forth to the bank for him). With this bank account we are going to set up Prasad with an import export license. He's well pleased.

So pleased infact that he forked out for the very tasty tandori chicken and dal. Actually i'm not being fair. He insisted on paying as he always does. His reasoning being that I am a guest in his country. Prasad is a very nice man.

Manoj reckons that I will have a feast on thursday evening when I go to eat at Prasad's house. He is very jelous and is trying to get himself invited. We were cracking up laughing when dicussing what tactics he could use..." I could just turn up with you and say that im dropping you off or something." me - "No Manoj. Why don't you just turn up say that you are dropping me off and mention that you might wait for me at the cafe around the corner cos you're really hungry."

This conversation developed but I must say that it all got a little silly. I'm actually laughing now just thinking about it.

Good evening from India.

dominic

3rd Edition-New product, Manoj arrives, an invitation to dinner

-" What is your good name sir ?"

- " Dominic."

- " And where are you coming from ?"

- " London".

- " Very beautiful, and what is your business in India ?"

- " Bangles."

- " That is exellent, goodbye Mr Dominic."

We have created a new product. A slight variation of the Sari Bracelet and if you liked those then this one may make your knees jingle jangle in excitement.

The new product will be shown at the next trade fair in June. Those of you who visit me there are welcome to a free sample.

Today Manoj (friend from Pondicherry, see yesterdays blog) arrived-ill. He's got chicken-goonia. Sounds bad doesn't it. Well i can confirm he looks just as bad (see photo). Infact it's similar to a very bad case of flu. He rested in his room most of the day while i went to see Prasad.

Prasad is already on the case with regards to finding the workers.It all looks very promising.

Woke up this morning to the sound of prayers in the mosque. Very foreign. You know you are not in Arundel West Sussex when the voices start whining over the out of date loud speakers. One thing about staying in the muslim quater is sometimes you don't sleep so much. This is not just true of the muslim areas. My wife and i once lived by a church in Pondicherry, every morning 5.30am children singing on the extremely crackly and extremely loud, loud speakers, it was far from a heavenly experience, in the end we had to move house.

Prasad's wife has kindly invited me for dinner on thursday. I accepted and look forward to it. I had a choice- "Fully veg or Veg and mutton". I will tell you about it on thursday. Funnily enough this wasn't the only invite for the day. The very good tut tut driver invited me to a party with him and his mates. He said "We drink and smoke and play tabla (instrument) in my friends jewellery shop". The reply was negative, chelsea are playing arsenal tonight on ESPN.

Good evening England. Come on you Blues !

dominic

ps.the pictures above are of Manoj-ill boy and myself driving the tut tut.

2nd Edition-Contact with Prasad is made

Not such an eventful day today but an important one anyway.
There was one funny incident when i pulled into the garage in a tut tut. The driver needed to open the bonnit as it were, but had left the key at home. No problem, he stopped every tut tut driver in the road and tried using their keys, eventually after about the sixth he succeeded!
At 11am i find myself in a dusty old shop in Madras near the Sari factory, in the search for my colleage Prasad. The shop is owned by Prasad's uncle-Shantanu. The term Uncle is used a lot in India it doesn't neccessarily mean your mother's or father's brother, it can be used in an affectionate way for an older family relation or friend. Uncle promptly ordered some tea and told me to sit. I did and half an hour later Prasad turned up. We went through the numbers and it seems everything should be alright. At least i was assured of this but i know that over here things aren't always so smooth. This is why i am staying here for such a long time, so i can follow each step personally.
The next step is to arrange the workers to make the Sari Bracelets, for this we will have to go out of town and being such a large order we will need to look around a bit more. You can find these bracelets in two different parts of India that i know of, quite simply, but if you want quality in numbers it is an entirely diiferent thing. Prasad will make the initial contact and then i will go and see things over. Fingers crossed.
I have been talking to Prasad seriously, saying that we've really got a great product here and trying to impress on him the need to continue to find more good people to make it.
I would like to eventually start up a proper factory here and make it a solid sustainable business for all involved. This is however all in the future and that's why we've got to do our very best now.
Tomorrow should be a great day. My very good friend Manoj is coming from Pondicherry three hours down the road, it's a lovely colonial French town right on the coast of South India. Manoj is a lover of life and an entrepreneur if ever there was one. He owns and runs four guest houses aswell as a chai (tea) shop. Speaks five languages and works on average eighteen hours a day. First and foremost though he is an artist and a very successful one. He exhibits in several places in India and is now starting to go further afield. If you want to have a very good insight into India, he is your man, he knows everyone and does everything with a massive grin. If you fancy buying some contemporary Indian art or going to Pondicherry itself then look him up on facebook, his name is Manoj Dixit. The painting above is Manoj's.
At the moment i'm sitting on the communial veranda looking out onto the garden writing this.
A very beatiful white cow just strolled by and the grandmother of the guesthouse is singing.

Good night from India.
dominic

1st Edition-A little background and the first day of this adventure

Hello everyone. All this enthusiasm about my bracelets has led me to start blogging.So i can keep you updated and more importantly a little entertained.

First i will give you a little background on how i started buying , then i will tell you what happened today-thursday the 5th of feb 2010.

I'm in India now. Quality, i love it here. Most of you will know i've spent a lot of time here in the past 10 years. After travelling extensively i always told my wife that i would love to go and live in India one day for a sustained period. My dreams came true when on what was already turning out to be a fantastic day i phoned Silvia in Italy to report my whereabouts and she told me she had accepted a job in South India, Pondicherry to be exact. To say that i was ecstatic is just about right.What a wife!

Anyway i wont go into too much detail. Suffice to say i loved it, even though it was hard work sometimes. We had motorbikes, we lived in appartments overlooking the arabian sea,small villages, a lovely french town and even lived for free in a pyramid house in the forrest. Loads of animals were our co- inhabitants, scorpions, snakes, horses, cows, mongoose and a very friendly peacock.

It was a wonderful experience. My mother has a very nice shop in Arundel -Jam Gallery ltd, so whilst in India i would often go off for many weeks at a time sourcing some fantastic pieces for her. Silver, gold, boxes, scarves, tablecloths, belts and of course our favourite Sari Bracelet. Like i said before ,i have a wonderful wife but also a pretty cool mum who gave me the oppurtunity.

After a little over two years we returned to Italy (Silvia is Italian). I have been fortunate enough to live in various places there but this time we went to work in Milan.

Milan was great.I was teaching and Silvia had got a very good promotion and contract (gold dust in Italy) for her company CIAI, it's an NGO. She had become head of Africa meaning that she was in charge of all the projects CIAI have in Africa. Whatsmore we lived around the corner from the San Siro stadium (home to AC / Inter Millan) I was in my element.

It all changed.Silvia got pregnant and we decided to come back to England to have the baby whilst at the same time i could learn the ropes of running my mothers shop. It was a very difficult and complex decision to come back.

So now we are in Arundel getting excited about what we believe could be very big indeed.The Sari Express Company......................

4th Feb 4.30pm : I just made the bank in time. I dont trust using credit cards so i get as much hard cash as i can out of the bank.

4.31 pm : We are late. Mum is meant to be taking me to the airport but im still counting cash and doing a good impression of a very headless chicken. I haven't had time to pack.

9.20 pm : Of course i make it.i always do, just about. Sometimes i turn up at the wrong airport, but not today.

So i'm on the flight after a stop off in Muscat. Whilst in deep sleep i get a vigorous tapping on my thigh. The Indian man with the bad teeth but a very kind smile is telling me food is here. I love aeroplane food so im really quite grateful he has woken me up.

We are flying and the toothy chap points out the fact that i haven't yet filled in my landing customs form. I had my passport out, filling in all the required fields , at the same time toothy and his mate are taking a very keen interest in all my stats, they are not hiding their inquisitiveness far from it, but that's fine, i laugh to myself and enjoy the moment. Once completed i offer my pen to him as he also needs to fill in his form. He has been away for a long while working as a taxi driver in Muscat. But he doesnt want the pen. Instead he gives me his passport and tells me to fill in his form for him. Classic. I fill in his official form as best i can and we have a laugh about the photo.

So i am now , after another flight, in Chennai formerly known as Madras. Im staying at a brilliant place i have frequented many times before. It's family run and as cheap as you like.

Being very very knackered i decided to not do much today.I got to the guesthouse at 4 ish did some exercise and then went to get my haircut and a shave.Its cheaper and better than in england.The hairdresser tells me he did a special cut just for me, well really he tells me this when we are discussing the price. 60p is not bad though,he even chuked in a cup of tea for the price!

I dont like to haggle too much with the service industry. I give what i think is a fair price and then a bit more someimes. I know i can get it cheaper but i'd rather people are a little happier and in turn, i usually recieve a better service. At the same time however, i know im not getting ripped off. When i'm buying silver it is a little different, with new suppliers I will try every trick i know.

One funny thing about indian hairdressers that i love. So you're in there ,and out of the blue someone (man) will just waltz in take out a comb from his pocket and start brushing his hair in the mirror. Then he will walk out, without a word being spoken. Its mad. This isn't just what happened twice this evening, this happens every single time i go to a salon here. And with all that bollywood dance and music blaring out of the tv. Girls you don't know what you're missing.

So i'm back on the veranda and double exhausted. The teperature is a little chilly in the evening but a nice 75 in the day.

Tomorrow, amongst other things, i will be investigating the whereabouts of an indian colleague-Prasad, who helps me with the making bangles.

Good night England.

dominic

ps. i am going to try and upload some photos if the blog allows it.