A decade ago, as Narendra Kumar Girwa scrolled through YouTube in search of videos on terrace farming, an inadvertent typo directed him to the intriguing world of pearl farming. This chance encounter piqued his curiosity.

Despite Rajasthan’s climate and agricultural traditions focused on wheat, bajra (pearl millet), and jau (barley), Narendra saw potential in cultivating pearls, which had a robust demand and lucrative market rates in India.

Before this unexpected turn, Narendra’s life was steeped in uncertainty.

Raised in a middle-income family with five siblings in Kishangarh Renwal of Jaipur district, he had no land or agricultural background. After graduating, he opened a bookstore near schools and colleges — a prime location for his stationery business.

For eight years, business was good until his landlord asked him to vacate the shop. “I was running the bookstore for eight years in the same location. All of a sudden, my landlord asked me to vacate the premises. He wanted to make way for his son to establish a business in the same spot. So, I had to vacate the shop. I took another shop on rent, about half a kilometre from the old location, but I wasn’t getting good customers there,” Narendra tells The Better India.

Forced into a less advantageous location, he struggled to attract customers, leading to significant financial losses — amounting to Rs 4–5 lakh. The business drained his savings, and despite his wife’s support through her earnings from stitching clothes, their financial health deteriorated rapidly.

Disheartened, Narendra found himself at a crossroads.

Transforming setbacks into stepping stones

While browsing online for new opportunities, his accidental discovery of........

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