Firozabad is India's glass capital, most famous for producing traditional glass bangles. But the city is the source of another treasure – one that's hidden and extremely hard-won.
"He burned the sari and from it, handed us a thin slice of pure silver," said my mother, describing a moment that had taken place 30 years ago at her home in the city of Firozabad. The man in her story was no magician, but an extractor. Like many similar artisans in my mother's hometown, he'd go door to door collecting old saris to mine them for their precious metals.
Until the 1990s, saris were often threaded with pure silver and gold, and I remember digging into my mother's wardrobe, searching for her glittery outfits like treasure. But as she told me, the extractors were looking for something even more valuable than clothing – they were looking for trash, and a kind of trash specific to this city.
So now, to learn more about that seemingly mystical transfiguration of extraction, I was driving back to Firozabad, a city overshadowed by the nearby Taj Mahal (45km west) and better known for being India's capital of glass bangles than for its precious metals. But as I found out, for some industrious artisans, the city was nothing less than a gold mine – a place where the precious metal once trickled through the sewers.
Founded in 1354 CE by the sultan of Delhi, Firoz Shah Tughlaq, Firozabad was built as a palace city that, according to court historian Shams-i-Siraj's writings, was twice the size of the walled city of Shahjahanbad (today's Old Delhi, devised by the same ruler who built the Taj Mahal). According to Rana Safvi, historian and author of The Forgotten Cities of Delhi, it was "used as a prototype for later Mughal-era fortresses, as this was the first time the concept of a Diwan-e-Aam [audience hall] for the public and a Diwan-e-Khas [private audience hall] for the nobles was introduced."
While Safvi notes that very few traces of that old city remain, I saw that today's Firozabad has its own type of grandeur. As I drove into the city, almost every lane was a kaleidoscope of pushcarts and trucks loaded with colourful glass bangles of every shade glimmering under the morning sun. The bracelets hold a significant place in Indian tradition, symbolising prosperity and good fortune for married women and new brides, who may wear stacks of them on each arm. With approximately 150 glass bangle factories today, it's no wonder Firozabad has earned the nicknames City of Glass and City of Bangles.
The craft goes back at least 200 years. One theory is that several of Firoz Shah's attendees were migrants from Rajasthan who specialised in this jewellery form. They taught it to local artists, and as time went on, the industry expanded to the production of glass bottles and chandeliers, the latter of which was in high demand by the kingdom's royal courts and nobles.
As bans on foreign imports were implemented after World War One and World War Two, the glass industry of Firozabad experienced a drastic growth. After India's Independence in 1947, it soon became India's leading glass – and bangle – supplier, and today accounts for approximately 70% of the country's glass production.
Which is why it was so surprising to me that after several trips to the city and discussions with locals and residents involved with the glass industry, I learned that Firozabad creates another precious commodity, one that only emerges after the bangles are made: gold.
