Deepak's Gem Palace

The phone rang at 3:00 in the morning.

Deepak was shouting over the phone, "Stuart! Stuart! You must come to India this year!"

"Deepak, we've come there every year for over 20 years, so why wouldn't we come this year?" I answered. "And stop shouting. And it's the middle of the night here, as you know--and what time is it in India? And what's going on?"

Deepak continued shouting, "Oh my friend, I have had a vision. It was magnificent! It will change both of our lives forever. I had to know you were coming. Sorry to wake you--please go back to sleep." Then, he hung up.

Chris was awake. "Who in the world was that?"

I repeated Deepak's mysterious call. Neither of us could go back to sleep. We got up and made coffee.

Deepak is probably my oldest friend in India. He is quite handsome--picture Richard Gere with black eyes, and with graying black hair and mustache. He speaks English with a Sean Connery accent.

Deepak owns one of the largest gem bead-cutting factories in India. Additionally, he supplies rough gem materials to other small cutting groups and helps them sell their finished output. Many of the clear gem beads sold by Fire Mountain Gems have come from Deepak.

To India...

Three of us traveled to India later in that same month. There was Doreen, who manages all products for us and especially loves the clear, India gem beads. Doreen is a jeweler and a beader. She has studied India gem beads for decades and is an expert on their current values. Plus, there was Sukdev (Dev), who handles translation, and is also a graduate gemologist. Dev specializes in the identification and grading of India gem beads. He can detect the most subtle indications that a stone has been dyed or otherwise enhanced. I came along because I am one of the rare men who loves to shop.

We arrived at our hotel in India in the middle of the night, after 32 hours of flying and layovers.

The next morning, Deepak's driver picked us up in an old Toyota sedan and whisked us up to Deepak's offices.

"Whisked" is probably the wrong word. Picture narrow, pot-holed roads, covered with swarms of people, motorcycles, cars, trucks, busses, bikes, pedal cars, camels, goats, dogs, pigs and an occasional elephant. Additionally, the cows are sacred and wander freely. Perhaps "crawled" is a better word for our ride.

Deepak's home and showrooms are in different parts of a huge, white marble building. The showrooms are not open to the public, and occupy most of the floor at street level. The upper stories are living quarters for Deepak and his extended family.

Deepak greeted us like long-lost sisters and brothers. We were ushered to the upstairs dining room, where we were served Darjeeling tea, and questioned politely about the welfare of our company and our families.

The Vision...

Finally, when we couldn't stand it any longer, Deepak got to the point. He did this by telling us a story about growing up as a helper in his uncle's downtown hotel. He told us how much he loved hotels--how every day, something new and different would happen. Deepak told us how he has always wanted to own his own hotel.

It seems the night before he called me, Deepak had had a dream of his hotel. He called his dream a "vision," and it was clear to him that he must fulfill this vision: get out of the gem trade and devote his life to the hospitality business.

Ever since, he has been busy with architects and designers, shaping the plans for his "mini Taj Mahal." He showed us plans for a 42-room, boutique hotel he has planned for the highest hill in his hometown. He told us that we were the only people outside his family who had seen the plans. To allow us to understand his vision, he described the experience of a guest arriving at his hotel, which is to be called The Gem Palace.

First, they would be greeted by a salute from a tall, turbaned Rajasthani guard officer, who would take responsibility for their luggage, and guide them to the door. Their senses would alight from the perfumes of rare spices and the flowers within. Soft music would envelop them from musicians on drum and flute. As they proceeded into the lobby, the burble of the pond would grow more audible.

As the guest, you would be greeted at registration by a liveried officer who knew your name and spoke your language. The registration counter and the wall behind it would contain the spectacle that gives The Gem Palace its name. They are entirely formed of heavy, backlit glass panels, with the light passing through a profusion of translucent, faceted gem beads. The artist's rendering showed it to be magnificent.

Deepak continued, "All rooms would face the central courtyard, where spas would be surrounded by gardens, alive with rare plants and trees, monkeys and peacocks."

"Well, what do you think of my vision?" he asked.

"Chris and I want to be your first guests," I respond.

Doreen added, "Please invite us all on Opening Day."

Deepak smiled. "Oh, do not worry, Stuart. You will be very special quests," he laughed. "Let me unveil my plan to you. You see, you get to pay for it!"

"No way!" I protested. "That would take a ton of money. We don't have that kind of money."

"You do not pay for the whole thing," he soothed. "You just have to help with the down payment. After that, the hotel can easily pay off its mortgage. And I am going to show you where you will get the money for the down payment." Deepak gave another big smile. "You see, I have thought of everything. Please follow me."

The Vault...

Deepak took us down four staircase levels, to a subterranean chamber that none of us knew was there. Behind a laser grid was a huge door to a vault--the kind of walk-in vault that you see in a bank. When he turned on the lights behind the door, there was revealed a mammoth chamber that looked the size of our parking lot.

The room was filled with heavy steel racks. The racks supported an immense profusion of Indian gemstone bead strands--millions of them!

"This was to be my family's insurance policy," Deepak told us. "Our 'security blanket' against anything tragic ever happening to India. Now, India is doing just fine. I want to have you cash these in--sell them for me so that I can build The Palace.

We wandered through the racks. This looked like the most wondrous selection of gems that any of us had ever seen. Deep purple amethyst, tourmalines in rainbow colors, sky-colored aquamarines, peridots and citrines, looking so good you wanted to eat them. Wherever you went, light was flashing off smooth and faceted surfaces--you didn't know where to look first. Dev found spessartite garnets in beads, as he noted, "Very unusual."

Doreen let out a shriek, "Are these chrome diopside beads?" she asked. 

They were. None of us have ever seen beads like these before. Every quality was represented, but the majority of the strands were superior quality jewelry grades. I started out as a gem cutter, and I was fascinated by some of the unusual cuts.

Here's the Deal...

Deepak sat us down on some cold steel benches. More tea appeared. He said that he wanted Fire Mountain Gems to sell his family's beads to their customers.

I said, "You need your down payment now. It would take us about ten years to sell all these beads."

"No," he told us, "I need the proceeds over a period of about two years. It takes that long in India to go through all the bureaucracy to build a project like this. I know how fast you normally sell these beads--remember, I supply you. For you to sell all of these in only two years, you will need lower prices--much, much lower prices. We will do this together. I will supply you at my cost, or below; you will add only a tiny markup. Each month, I will send you a portion of the beads. When you sell them, send me a portion of the proceeds. After two years, they will all be gone, I will have my hotel, and you will have something even more valuable."

"More valuable?" I questioned.

"Remember," he said, "how you have always told me that the secret to business is to create happy customers? I guarantee that you will have very, very happy customers."

Deepak waved his arms and told us, "I have an image in my mind about your customers--and they are all beautiful women."

"What makes you think they're all women?" Dev asked.

"In the image in my mind, they are all women," Deepak replied with finality.

Doreen asked, "How do you know that they're all beautiful?"

"Women who work with such beauty, and create beauty with their hands, are beautiful. Period. Do not be deceived by their outward appearance or their age or the language they speak. These are very beautiful women." He wiped his eyes and continued, "And I want all of them to come visit me at The Gem Palace."

Well, as you guessed, we went for the deal. It was irresistible.

The beads are arriving now, and we're putting them through gemological inspection and grading, and getting them ready for sale.