Life Is Full Of Good Experiences

“Colourful stones always fascinated me. So I got attracted to Gemology,” says Shenaz Amarnani, a mother of 3 children, who decided that after her third child, she had to do something better with her life rather than sit at home. So she went ahead and got herself qualified in Essentials of Diamonds from Gemological Institute, Singapore.
She insists that her company Mirella’s usp is currently diamonds. She does a lot of work with uncut diamonds. She informs, “At the moment, it is a trend of diamonds so our unique selling proposition is diamonds. Otherwise, it follows whatever the trend is. It changes with times.”
She gets candid about life’s many good experiences. “There are so many good experiences. Life is full of good experiences. How will I share just one experience? Life is so beautiful. I just want to say one thing. Every day is beautiful and every day brings good experiences. Like when I was having an exhibition at Delhi and I had a very bad experience with one of my executives. Somebody came up to me and said, ‘the name of your company, Mirella, is being spoiled Mrs. Amarnani. Please take care.’ And I pulled up my sleeves and said, ‘You won’t find that any more, Shashank. I’ll take care of it.’ And from that day, Mr. Shashank, from G L Jewelers, Delhi is a very good client of mine.”

Asked about the current trends in jewelry, she replies, “The current trends are pearls because pearls are very soothing. In the evening, you can wear pearls. You can go anywhere for any event, you can carry them off very elegantly. And summer is the time to wear minimal jewelry.”
Today’s girls would prefer modern jewelry even for their marriage. But their parents, who belong to the previous generation, would probably like traditional jewelry. Shenaz has handled many such situations, cleverly. She explains, “According to me, the parents would like their girls to have diamonds. But believe me I have meet girls, who are looking for traditional designs. I give them indo-western designs and they are very happy with it. I don’t have any complications or any problems with my clients. They are very happy with me, because I solve their problems very easily. I understand my clients very well. They are very comfortable with me, especially the youngsters.”
Once she could not deliver some jewelry on time. About that time, she reminisces, “There is a client of mine whose jewelry I could not deliver on time. This was because I was not much involved with my factory at that time. And one of my executives was handling his jewelry. I remember this client, Mr. Prateik and his wife had come to my residence. His wife told me a few things. I promised Mrs. Prateik that her jewelry would be delivered on such and such a date and delivered it. From that day till date I am going to my office and am fully involved in my work. I have been making sure that every time jewelry is delivered one day before the delivery date.”

It is a known fact that there are flaws in gems. It is difficult to identify quality jewelry by layman. Her advice is that people go to a good gemologist in their town. She continues, “Or the best thing is go to a good jeweler. If you can’t afford it, go to the nearest gemology institute. If you are in Bombay, you can come to me (laughs)!”
And her tips on identifying gems? “It’s very simple. See, there are 3 categories in stones. You ask the person from whom you are buying that you want real stone, if you can afford it. If you cannot afford it you tell them you want glass-filled. If you ask for glass-filled they will not charge you much. And that will also help your purpose. So you will not get cheated.”
She enlightens, “Yes, and if you want to know about pearls I can say. Take a pearl and rub it under your feet. If it is real, it will feel it rough like salt. If it is not rough, then it is plastic. Other gems, it would be difficult to explain.”
In many Hindu families horoscope is important. Some people need certain gemstone jewelry due to problems in horoscope. In such circumstances, she says, “I am not an astrologer. But, I keep all the stones and make good designs. I add my diamonds to it and help these clients well.”

This article was previously published in Eve’s Times and has been reproduced here with the permission of the editor, Swati Amar.