Traditional armbands at a jewelry shop in Jodhpur.
Photograph by Abhishek Khedekar for Bloomberg BusinessweekIndia’s Most Reliable Retirement Plan: Selling Grandma’s Jewelry
In a place with scant formal pension support, gold necklaces and bangles often take the place of social security.
Saroj Kanwar Deora lives in a two-room brick house in Jodhpur, a city of 2.2 million about 15 hours north of Mumbai by train. She quit school after fifth grade. Now in her late 40s (she’s not sure of her age), she’s spent most of her adult life as a seamstress and cooking carryout meals for laborers working nearby. She haggles with street vendors over even a few rupees.
Her one indulgence is gold. She has necklaces, headbands, bracelets, rings and more, a few stashed in her house in places she won’t reveal, but most held in a safe-deposit box at a local bank. “It started with my mother’s wedding gifts,” she says, showing off her latest purchases in a small bedroom adjacent to her kitchen. “She was poor, but she managed to give me gold earrings and anklets.”