Legacy
Harakh Family's 100-Year Journey: Diamonds, Serendipity and Spirituality Create a Legacy
In the diamond and jewelry industry, stories of success often intertwine with chance encounters and unexpected opportunities. However, at a deeper level, HARAKH CEO and Founder Harakh Mehta believes that “chance” and “unexpected” opportunities are pre-ordained by good karma from previous lives. After all, you get back what you put into the universe.
While his family's remarkable diamond and jewelry company started from a fortuitous meeting at a post office during British rule in India, since its inception the business remains rooted in the core value of spreading happiness through helping others and being receptive to the universe’s abundant blessings.
By Harakh Mehta
HARAKH CEO and Co-Founder
I’m always amazed when I think about how my family’s entrée into the diamond business more than 100 years ago can be traced back to one simple moment in time, when my great-grandfather Mr. Manilal Chandulal Mehta was on a routine errand in his hometown of Madras in southern India.
It was 1916, and he met an English gentleman named Warren at the post and telegraph office. Warren needed some assistance communicating with the local staff, and fortunately, my great-grandfather had the rare skill of being fluent in English. It was uncommon for Indians to speak English, but his parents had sent him to a Christian missionary school to give him a chance at a better future.
Remembering his mother’s instructions to always assist people in need when possible, he helped Warren complete his tasks. Although socializing among different races wasn’t the norm then, the two became friends, and my great-grandfather began making connections in the British community.
A steamer ship ride to a diamond-studded future
His British acquaintances had heard about the burgeoning diamond trade in Antwerp, Belgium. Antwerp’s diamond history dates back to the late 15th century when Portuguese explorers brought diamonds from Africa to Europe. Antwerp, a thriving trade city, had become a hub for diamond cutting and trading thanks to its location and prosperous economy.
At the request of his new British associates, who were eager to invest in diamonds, my great-grandfather went to investigate. He struck out on a steamer ship with very little money in his pocket and traveled a journey by sea that today would last 18 hours by plane, as Antwerp is more than 7,800km away by land.
His long journey to Antwerp proved fruitful as he acquired some beautiful diamonds for the British collectors. He eventually established his own office in Antwerp, where he worked with esteemed diamond cutters and polishers such as Marcel Tolkowsky, a renowned diamond cutter and mathematician whose cuts are credited with revolutionizing the industry.
As India gained prosperity in the 20s and 30s, my ancestors supplied diamonds and other precious gemstones to the Indian nobility and ruling class, including some of the famous Maharajas, who sold these beautiful stones to the most prestigious jewelers of the time, some that are still famous today such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpel. Family legends abound of how many of these gems ended up in the archives of auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
An astrologer’s forecast helps save the business from dark times
However, as the winds of political and social change swept most of the world during the post-war 1940s, and India gained independence, importing diamonds became increasingly risky and ridden with legal challenges. There was a dark side fraught with smuggling and mystery. Unfortunately those who were jealous of my great-grandfather’s success did their best to nefariously thwart his efforts. While he was able to deal with most issues, his young son, Mr. Rasiklal Mehta, who had just entered the business, had a tough time with coping. Within a decade there were two tragedies: The untimely death of his father, who passed away in 1947, and, then a few years later, he was unfairly accused of wrongdoing by his father’s rivals.
Fortunately, his spirituality and deep faith in karma helped him. With his keen business acumen and his family’s blessings, Mr. Rasiklal Mehta, who would become my grandfather, proved his innocence and cleared his name. However, he was so disheartened by these shady dealings that he nearly abandoned the diamond business, leaving it only a shadow of its former glory compared to my great-grandfather's time.
He turned his attention to establishing various social entrepreneurial manufacturing ventures, creating jobs for India’s rising population. He also set up initiatives that helped small traders excel in commerce and industry.
The India diamond industry experienced a transformative shift in the 1950s and 1960s, propelled by the emergence of a new affluent class in America and the growing middle class. India became a major player in the trade, importing rough diamonds from Antwerp and cutting and polishing them at economical labor rates. My grandfather watched almost helplessly from the fringes. He was so scarred by his earlier traumatic experiences that even with the stupendous success of his other business activities he was reticent to expand the diamond enterprise.
But one day a renowned seer gave a reading for his son, who would become my father, that changed everything. The seer said: “This boy will do extremely well if you give him white substances to deal with.” His wife, my grandmother, opined that perhaps the seer meant dairy or milk. My grandfather said, without a moment’s hesitation, “He needs to get back to diamonds!”
I know in his heart that my grandfather didn’t want to let go of the business that his father built from that serendipitous post office moment. His decision to pass the torch to my father, Mr. Samir Mehta, was in many ways a sign from the universe about the enduring blessings that diamonds were going to give to my family.
From a single chance encounter between an Indian man and a British man more than 100 years ago to the guidance of a seer through incredibly dark times, generations of my family have been guided by the power of good karma. By helping a stranger at the post office and later mustering the faith to keep the business alive through hard times, my family has seen that the universe has a plan for us if we prioritize our spiritual faith and generosity.
I’m proud of how we navigated through challenges and embraced opportunities to build an enduring legacy in jewelry that’s grounded in our spiritual beliefs.
