Shaila, the Dressmaker

During the last monsoon, on our visit to Vasai, I came across a remarkably successful lady.
I had gone to order some dresses for my mother-in-law when I met the famous Shaila Tailor. Her shop was full of colourful fabrics and dresses, baby frocks, and suncoats on hangers. While I talked to her, five ladies selected fabric and waited for their turn. It was a busy time in the shop although it was a weekday morning.

From a very young age, Shaila had a passion for dressmaking.
On the insistence of her family, she did her graduation and also did a physical education teacher's training. But she didn't have any interest in teaching.

Her sister, who is five years her senior, had given her a sewing machine. On the machine Shaila made dresses for her neighbours. She had dressmaking orders right after she finished high school. She had done a short term course in tailoring as a teenager and was hooked to this hobby for life.

After marriage, her husband, Vinay, supported her hobby which made her a small entrepreneur of sorts. A few years later, they faced hard times because the TV company where Vinay worked showed signs of closing down. They also had a small grocery shop in the village but they had a family to support and the income was not enough.

Shaila decided to open a tailoring shop in the grocery shop. Vinay, as always, encouraged her enthusiasm. As the years went by, her business expanded and the tailoring shop completely took over the grocery shop. With a bank loan, Shaila and Vinay had the courage to approach a wholesale fabric supplier in Ahmedabad.With hardwork and good decisions, their business continued to grow.

Presently Shaila and Vinay stay in a two-story house which they have built near the shop. The lower floor of the house is used as a store and workshop. The assistants and tailors who are employed there have a separate entry gate and a creche for their babies. Besides this little shop, they have also rented another shop near the town center.

Vinay says, "All this has happened because of Shaila's hard work and the constant smile that never leaves her face."

While I talk to Shaila and Vinay, their 8 year-old son, Aryan, serves me a glass of water on a tray which he neatly balances. Then he tidies up the room. Simply remarkable!

Sophie's Spring Collection

Sophie is the admin of our school chat group.  
She's nice. And sensible. She would never ever post junk. That's why she is a most respected group admin. 

It came as a surprise when about a week ago she posted this message:

Hello everyone!
I have been working with a friend of mine for some fashion accessories. If you guys don't mind, can I please introduce and post some pics of my Spring Collection out here?

Nobody responded to this on that day. It was so unlike Sophie to 'use' her friends like this. 

The next day Deepa posted:
 
Sophie please feel free to post whatever you wish. Repeat jokes se to accha hi hoga.
(Three winking smileys with tongues sticking out.)

Deepa is quite concerned about the issue of jokes being repeated on our chat group. 

Sophie responded:

Thanks, Deepa, for being kind enough and let me present my Spring Collection 2015.
(A smiley with laughing tears.)


And then Sophie posted this pic.

Leena said:

Wow Sophi! What a collection! 

More and more smileys followed this.

Sophie (blowing a kiss):

Will give you all discounts. Start imagining where you can hang the springs! 
 

 

A Town of Teachers

"If you are a teacher's daughter and if you want to marry,
You would marry a teacher's son more than anybody..."

These are lines from a picnic and party song which was popular when we were in school. The song goes on to say that a farmer's daughter would marry a farmer's son, and how a milkman's daughter would have no choice but to marry a milkman's son, and so on.

In the 60s,70s and 80s, many people from our hometown of Vasai took up teaching careers to explore new job opportunities in and around Mumbai city.  The earlier generations had led a more agrarian lifestyle till jobs in Indian railways and Mumbai Port Trust hired people with basic school education. Some had taken up practical occupations like carpentry and construction. 
However, with the growth in education, thanks to the priests and nuns who ran strict schools, a teaching job in a government-aided school offered a favourable option. Many young men and women in the 60s became teachers. Among them were my parents. Their academic lifestyles, moral values, and a light but regular pay packet at the end of the month attracted many youngsters into this noble profession.

During the 80s, almost every school in Mumbai had at least one teacher from Vasai. The culture of studiousness and the confidence that this crop of teachers instilled in their own offspring led to the next generation aspiring for diverse professional courses. Presently, in Vasai, you will come across physiotherapists, dentists, engineers, air hostesses, sailors, builders, interior designers, architects, and so on. But by and large, for the girls, a teaching career is still a popular option.

On a personal level, I started my career as a journalist and eventually walked in my parents footsteps to become a teacher. On the other hand, my brothers and husband chose the technical field.
As the song above goes I did marry a teacher's son, after all.

(Photo courtesy: Pearl Ferreira and friends)

One Book - A Thousand Films

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is one of my all-time favourite books.

It is a most strange novel in which the story is revealed in the first few pages. 
It tells the story of a Syrian Catholic family in Ayemenem, Kerala. It is the story of people who broke the "Love Laws that lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much."

It has all the elements of a blockbuster - scenic location, innocent love, the scent of scandal, the tragedy of death, and so on. 
Well, that is not the reason why I like this book. 
On another level, if you see, the book is a linguistic feast. The words have a magical quality in the way they are combined. The sounds of the phrases, the word pictures they create in the reader's mind, and their meanings are a rare treat.

The book won the 1997 Booker Prize and made big waves as the first novel written by a young and beautiful girl. 
One very interesting fact is that Arundhati Roy had several offers to adapt the book into a film. Yet she refused because she feels that a film creates a single image of the story for the audience whereas a book creates a thousand different images in the minds of the readers. 

Therefore, I read the book again. And again.

Silver Leaves

I will never forget the first time I saw it. In primary school, a friend smiled secretively and opened her notebook. Inside the pages lay the most exquisite thing I had ever seen. It was a tender folded leaf with a silver velvet texture.

...

The second time I saw it was on a nature walk with my boyfriend. It was raining heavily and we didn't carry an umbrella. As we turned a corner to take shelter under a big tree, we saw a creeper with large heart-shaped leaves embracing the tree. The leaves at the tip of the vine were silver! My companion reached up and plucked a leaf. It was one of the first gifts of pure young love.
...

This monsoon, when we visited our hometown, the first thing we saw as we looked out of the back door was a vine with the silver leaves entwined around a papaya tree. It was the best welcome gift we could have wished for. To have something so utterly precious growing in our backyard was a blessing.

Looking beyond, we saw the same vine growing berserk like a giant beanstalk on a tall palm tree. At the top it was crowned with tubular purple flowers. 
...

Some research informed us that the botanical name of this vine was Argyreia Nervosa and it was commonly known as Elephant vine (because of its large elephant-ear leaves) or Hawaiian Wood rose (because of its woody-rose-like seeds).
Ancient ayurvedic texts claim that it has aphrodisiac properties. It is used to delay old age and to strengthen the body.
...

Well, useful or not, the vine has an unparalleled majestic beauty and it is a pleasure to have it naturally growing in our backyard.