After Agra we headed to Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan. We took an auto rickshaw or the Indian Helicopter, as our guide Mohammad liked to call it, to the old city Bazaars. Its basically 3 sq miles of shopping and haggling. The side streets seem to lead to more endless roads of more shopping of leather goods, textiles, jewelery and gems. After 3 hours of bizarre bazaar wondering we headed to the outskirts of the city where there are more shops that supply goods directly from the factory.
We "supposedly" toured a part of the 5th largest factory in therms of employment. They employ approx. 800 workers who are mostly from West Bengal. They come on a two year contract where they work 6 days a week, 8hours a day hand sowing the tiniest beads onto the cloth that makes saris, comforters etc. They are not paid until the end of their 2 yr contract and then they are given 50 rupees per day that they worked which is roughly $350 U.S. dollars. They are given a place to sleep which is on the ground at the factory and food and water. The factory then sales some of the cloth wholesale in India and the rest is exported over sea's where the majority of the profit is made by the store to consumer.
There is a large variety of craftsmanship, quality of cloth and of course price. But something sold for $100 in India could easily be sold for $800 abroad. The level of poverty is intense and it is impossible not to see. It is at times so prevalent that I can't help but wonder if slowly people become immune to it.
