As a child, my grandmother's gold necklace had fascinated me. My fingers would trace its delicately moulded design and feel the intricate lattice work. My imagination fired with a sense of adventure from voracious reading, I would ask her from which hidden cave or niche had this glittering ornament been retrieved. It was a gift from her mother, she would answer with nostalgia, made by skilful artisans from "the village of Modpur across the river Ganga".
Over the years I came to learn that Modpur, a small town in West Bengal, is well-known for its extremely skilled goldsmiths. The clientele of these artisans include not only Bengali women such as my grandmother who prefer gold ornaments, but even celebrities and film stars across the country who value jewellery made by the "Modpur boys". It was only recently that I got the opportunity to meet the heroes of my childhood on a visit to the Modpur administrative block in Howrah District, separated from Calcutta, as my grandmother had reported, by the Ganga.
What I found in Modpur is that there is hardly a household where a son, brother, father, uncle or son-in-law is not 'missing'. In search of better work opportunities and more money, goldsmiths and gem-setters have migrated to faraway cities like Bombay, Hyderabad and, most importantly, Surat, a thriving industrial town in Gujarat famed for its diamonds, jewellery and textiles. Some have even sought their fortunes in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
Traditionally, the goldsmiths of Modpur were a small community with the male members handing down the skills to the new generation. When demand for their skills in the export-oriented production centres of western India first sprung up, small groups of artisans made the shift to Surat and Bombay. As their skills became more prized, the trickle turned into a flood. Today, even agricultural workers are abandoning their land to become goldsmiths and migrate.