Nirmal Khanna

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ROMANCING THE STONE

The magnetism of gems is impossible to resist if one’s family has been in the trade for seven generations, and this certainly holds true for Yogendra Durlabhji of Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan.
“I tried very hard to break away from the clan’s tradition,” said the sportsman and social activist turned businessman. “I even changed my name, calling myself Yogi Jain, and taught at Doon School. But the lure of gems was too strong. After all, it has been in the blood for seven generations.”
Durlabhji was in Dubai recently where he took the opportunity to exhibit a stunning collection of emerald jewellery.
Indeed, looking at the necklaces, bangles, earrings, rings and loose stones casually displayed on a table – the deep green stones catching and reflecting light – one understood why it’s so easy to yield to the romance of handling and working with emeralds.
Reflecting on the family’s history with emeralds, Durlabhji said, “We can trace it back to 1908 when Durlabhji Tribhuvan, one of my fore-fathers, came to Jaipur from Morvi, a centre for jewellery.”
Then, over the next few decades, while the business prospered, the family built up an international clientele. In fact, Khailshankar, Durlabhji’s father, then settled in Paris, and stayed there till the start of World War II.
Later, on his return to Jaipur, Khailshankar began to have the stones cut and polished there, and this is when the company became an international leader in the emerald trade.
Another audacious move that put the company in the limelight was when “my father capitalised on a meeting with Tiny Rowland to purchase and process the entire production of the Sandwana mine,” said Durlabhji.
Sandwana was a new mine in Southern Rhodesia in the fifties that reputedly produced some of the finest emeralds in the world.
But being in the limelight has been nothing new for the family. In fact, during the Second World War, Khailshankar went to Colombia and bought up the entire production worth $2 million, a fortune in those days. This made it to the front page of the New York Times.

Khailshankar also set up the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India, becoming its founder Chairman.
Durlabhji, meanwhile, tried his hardest to stay away from the family business, concentrating on his education and taking up a teacher’s job at Doon School and later, at Mayo College.
“I used to be called Jain as big names create barriers, and I wanted to be accepted for myself. Also, I wanted to achieve something on my own. I went to London and Cambridge for a few years for research, and on my return to Jaipur, I wanted to work in the rural areas and help the poor. But I got pulled into the gemstone business.
“However, despite the fact that I am now a full time businessman, I am closely involved with the various charitable trusts that we have, including a large charitable hospital which was established in 1971 and was opened by (former Indian prime minister) Indira Gandhi. We have also built a hospice for the terminally ill so that people who have been abandoned by society and are without hope can die in dignity.”
Durlabhji has also been passionately involved with sports. He captained St. Stephen’s College and Delhi University in squash, represented the College at tennis and water polo, represented Cambridge University and the county in squash and Churchill College at cricket, tennis, badminton and hockey. He captained Rajasthan at squash and tennis, and was nationally ranked in squash. He has also formed a sports trust to promote Indian sportsmen.
Regarding his own training in the gemstone trade, he says, “I sat with Nissarji, a craftsman who is considered the best in the world and learnt from him. He knows more than the top jewellers of Fifth Avenue or anywhere else.”
About his visit to Dubai, he said that he is contemplating setting up a regular outlet here.

What do you do when you want to splurge a few lakhs of rupees on an emerald of your fancy? You go to the internationally acclaimed Durlabhjis, of course. Yogi Durlabhji, whose family has been in the business for seven generations.