Gemsicuted

Written by Julian Robov


Twenty One


Baddy Smith, tall, with a curly mop of dark hair, and fast talking met by chance Jeb Singthowala at the Kilimanjaro hotel lobby during one of his trips to Dar- es -Salaam, Tanzania. Though British by birth, he preferred to be identified as an Asian due to his mother’s influence. She was Malaysian. His father was English. He grew up appreciating gemstones at an early age. His father, Michael Smith worked for a Hatton Garden jewelry store as a gemstone specialist. Though the education from his father helped him tremendously understanding the ropes of buying and selling gemstones, there was something in him, which kept emerging day by day. He wanted a bit more knowledge. Baddy decided to venture on his own. AFRICA!

As the untapped mineral rich continent of the world, Africa had everything-diamonds, colored stones, and precious metals. The wild continent was not for everyone. Only the thick-skinned and determined survived the landscape and culture shock. Gemstones were everywhere. The locals just didn’t know what to call them. Some became part of their traditional culture, while others were cleverly looted out of the country in several guises by the crooked missionaries, mercenaries and, of course, gem traders without borders. The gemstones of Africa were for grabs, and the knowledgeable ones kept the info close to their chest. They knew these ugly looking rough gemstones when cut and polished had value in their country. So they kept coming back in various disguises. Some with religious passion, while others introduced themselves as the liberators of ignorance and poverty. Every foreigner who had landed in Africa profited from the local population’s ignorance and lack of professional skills. They were too slow to change. The powerful invaders divided and ruled several countries, their natural and human resources, and at times created new problems, if they saw a hidden advantage, pitting an African against African in the name of tribal cleansing or material gains. The rugged terrain and lack of communication just worked in their favor.

Africa was any gem enthusiasts dream. A Pandora’s box! Baddy knew about it and wanted to see and experience the rude awakening by himself. After researching quietly for several months at Oxford University, he decided to start his journey. Tanzania was his first stop. By chance, he met a few Asians, at Bradford (England), who had migrated to England from Tanzania. That introduction helped him a lot when he arrived in Arusha. He stayed with them for a few months studying the landscape and the people. The Asian traders based in Arusha had a lot to share, and with their help and guidance, he began to trade in red and green garnets. Extensive traveling and estimating parcels of rough garnets became easier and with time. He made money selling them in London at a bit higher prices. One deal led to another. This arrangement led to frequent traveling between Tanzania and London. Through several encounters at the mines, he came to know about other countries in the region that had gemstones. The Southern African countries had more colored stones. But he preferred to stay in Tanzania to further strengthen his connections. Many foreigners both, Asian and Western traders, rushed to the mines and government offices for special concessions, either the legal way or paying chai (tea money) out-bidding the rivals. But a local contact became indispensable to pursue the wild ambition. It was at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals where Baddy met Jeremy Mbuzi. This young miner introduced Baddy to corundum mining. It was an altogether different ball game.

Another meeting at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, in Dar-es-Salaam, made all the big difference in a day. Together they worked hard, mining corundum of various qualities. Some were sold in kilos, while others in carats. Several trips to Nairobi once upon a time referred to as the Bangkok of Africa, with good ones generated more money and profits.

Again, one deal led to another. Money began to flow like a river, as good and profitable veins (gem pockets) began to show up wherever they dug a hole in Tunduru.
The red variety of corundum was called ruby. When the blue variety became blue sapphire, other colors in the corundum family were classified as fancy sapphires. Some of the blues and fancy colors were so good the experts had difficulty distinguishing them from other well known localities such as Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand. Jeremy volunteered as his mentor. He taught Baddy every in and out of the trade in the Tanzanian bush, a very rare gesture among the local Tanzanians. They never trusted a foreigner. They knew that any foreigner who landed in any one of the countries in Africa had only one hidden agenda. EXPLOITATION!

A rare phenomenon, Jeremy trusted Baddy’s face. That privilege and convenience became a blessing in disguise. Tall, wellbuilt, cruising in his late forties, he got sucked into the gemstone trade, when his father discovered several green and red crystals popping out of their onion farm in Tunduru. With time Jeremy’s father, Joshua, realized he was sitting on a huge colored gemstone deposit, and that changed the peasant family’s fortunes overnight. Married to Mercy with one son, Jerry, Jeremy never indulged in an extravagant lifestyle like some of his fellow miners. He knew one day the gemstones were going to disappear once and for all. They never grew again like vegetables. If it did, it occurred in several million years, but not at the same spot. So did the money. He was frugal and conservative. He learnt this trait from his father, as well as from the Asian merchants, who dominated the local and regional economies. Baddy learned this valuable lesson from Jeremy. As was known in the gem trade, competition, jealousy, and disappearance made people go for broke or even quit the business altogether if things didn’t work in their favor.

Relationship and trust became the pillar stone of the trade. Meeting crooks and airhead bimbos were a reality. They had only one ambition. Cheat and kill a friendship when opportunities arose. They were everywhere like jackals in several guises. Even an experienced and well-financed miner would go under when these jackals pulled their powerful strings. That’s precisely what happened to Jeremy, as he was traveling from Mombasa to Arusha. He had made so much money with a foreigner as his partner not sharing his wealth or the knowledge to the ignorant locals, they decided to do something about it.

Jeremy was killed with a machete, while traveling back to Arusha in a Land Rover by Osman Ndugu, a jealous miner who wanted to see the partnership with Baddy end. Again, one event led to another. Baddy knew too well, he was a foreigner in a strange land. Even though he knew the language and the landscape there were several miners and traders not so happy with the unusual alliance of a Tanzanian with a Briton. He had to work out a practical strategy if he wanted to survive in the trade. Otherwise, he knew his fate wouldn’t be too different from Jeremy. And the local authorities made his life difficult by putting in a lot of restrictions. Mercy was least interested in continuing the family tradition. She knew that the mining and gem trade was not for her. Instead, she chose modeling. In the end, she advised Baddy to leave Tanzania for good or get killed by anyone who hated his presence in the region. The revelation became a turning point in his life. Never in his dream had he thought of leaving Tanzania and going elsewhere. His roots were in Tanzania. Baddy realized that if this was how he became a victim the same would have happened even if he went elsewhere in the region. There were too many dogs in the street. Some had to die for others to survive. And, he was not an African. Even if he claimed to be one, he didn’t look like them. It was another rude awakening.

In a matter of days, events began to change against him. To his dismay, his house was ransacked during his long absence while he was in London. It was the beginning of the end. He discovered the terrain was getting too difficult. There was no evidence or help from his friends as to who was playing the game. His enemies were well organized. He had a decision to make. Life or gemstones! The thought became an everyday ritual before sleep. Life was more precious to him than gemstones. He didn’t want to relocate to London. Perhaps, Southeast-Asia! He pondered for a while.

He knew there were gemstones in Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, but then moving to this untested terrain meant starting all over again. As he was waiting to meet a German client, Baddy bumped into Jeb, who also happened to stay at the Kilimanjaro hotel. One event led to another. A casual introduction at the bar made all the big difference in a day. They became friends, as their mutual interests became pretty obvious. GEMSTONES! They discussed in detail the future prospects, and Baddy got the surprise of his life when he got an offer from Jeb to join their company as his partner. This was an offer Baddy couldn’t refuse. Jeb had other ideas.

When he was introduced to Sanders in Bangkok, and knowing Baddy’s background, Sanders knew instantly, he was talking to the right man. “Welcome to the city of angles, saints, crooks and bimbos!” Baddy felt amused and a bit disturbed by the unusual introduction. It didn’t take him much time to understand what Sanders meant. They were everywhere, wherever there were gemstones. Sanders was speaking his mind, but in a different way.

Bangkok was very different from Dar-es-Salaam or Arusha. The city was vibrant with action in style and chaos, a city under permanent construction. The smell, food, and the people were so different from Tanzania, it took him a while to absorb, adapt, and realize that he was living in one of the most colorful cities in the world, irrespective of its negative image in other areas. The people were friendlier, clean, and charming. The food was tastier than the local Tanzanian dishes, and the varieties kept watering his mouth everyday, as more and more delicacies were introduced. He loved the chaotic city. No wonder, Baddy thought, people kept coming back again and again.

Baddy got a separate office at the Melvine Sanders Trading Corporation. He was briefed on the way Thais did business which was very different from Tanzania. It didn’t take much time for him to adapt, just a slight difference in the language and practice. One thing he knew from his experience was gemstones never cheated. Instead, people cheated. Dealers were more concerned with numbers than accents or nationalities. At the end of the day, everyone wanted to make money like anywhereelse. To achieve that goal they needed a gemstone that smiled like a queen or king. He got the excitement of his life when he saw the most colorful rubies and sapphires behind the closed doors of Jeb’s office. Gradually Baddy began to like the Bangkok gem market.