My experience at the tailor's

I forgot to upload this Friday after I wrote it but this is a paper that I had to do for my Research Methods class.  The assignment was to visit a place in Pune twice to observe and interact with the people there.  We were to spend at least two hours or so in our chosen place.  I chose the tailor's and actually visited there three days in a row.  I will turn this paper in on Wednesday when I have the class. Enjoy! ~ Kaia (^_^) Cultural Observation: Stitching life together             "Go down Prabhat Road, cross a big intersection and then turn down the first little street you come to which should be Lane 11.  It will be on the first floor of the white building on the right."  These were my instructions, along with a map and a hastily written name and phone number that I was given to find my location of observation, the Seamstress'.  My professor had actually recommended her own seamstress to me after I admired her outfit.  "I'll tell you where you must go," she had told me, and so here I was wandering around looking for a seamstress' shop in a residence area.  I would have gotten there faster had I not gotten confused on which major street was which but after the local who I approached for help saw my scrawled map, recognized the "jogging path" and pointed me back towards the way I had come, I realized my mistake.  Another entreaty to a local passerby (on the right street, this time), and a phone call to the seamstress herself finally led me to the place.  If Mrs. Shroff, the seamstress, hadn't directed me via cell phone to the front door, I never would have found it.  There was no sign, no marker, no nameplate, no nothing to show that around the far corner of the building lay a tiny but magical workplace of cloth, thread and color.  It had been a busy day so there had been no time to reorganize some of the folded cloth that lined the walls and sat in stacks on the floor.  Kurtís of all styles, patterns and colors  hung waiting on the three racks which came down from the ceiling.  Each had their order stapled to the left shoulder so you could tell which belonged to whom.  Mrs. Shoff was helping another customer but welcomed me in and invited me to "Look around the shop and take whatever you like off the shelves.  We'll figure out what works later."  It took me 40 or so minutes of being there to recover my senses and be able to decide which of these beautiful fabrics I wanted to bedeck myself in.  Eventually I narrowed my choice down to one lovely dupata of peridot green that faded to dark blue on both ends.  I had no idea what it would match nor what to do next, but I had pulled something off the shelf as directed.  I handed the dupata to her and a minute later she had returned with a solid peridot green cloth and a solid, dark, blue-purple cloth.  They matched the scarf perfectly.  A few minutes later I had paid, been given an approximate date on which I could come try on the outfit, and had a vague idea of what it would look like: green salwar, and a blue kurtí with short sleeves and some simple embroidery on the front.  It was amazed and extremely excited.  "Come back anytime," she told me, "Even before your fitting."  She also offered her services for any western clothing that I might want made before I return to the states.   As I had been wandering around getting my bearings I had watched the many women coming and going from the shop.  Some came to try on things that were waiting to be fitted, others came to pick up the finished products.  One woman brought in a piece of clothing that she needed a matching dupata for: a few minutes later she left satisfied, dupata in hand.  Some stayed longer than others, depending on the nature of their visit and how many other customers were waiting.  Most of the conversations were in Marathi, but there would usually be some English here in there: colors or random (as much as I could tell) words for which they chose to use the English version.  Each woman who entered would be surprised to find me between the racks of hanging clothes.  Some would just smile before squeezing past to do business with Mrs. Shroff.  Others, though, would take more interest in me and ask where I was from and what I was studying.  Seeing my notebook and pen they asked if I was interviewing Mrs. Shroff.  "No, just observing and learning," I replied with a smile. Mrs. Sunita Shroff has been in the clothing business for nearly 30 years.  She first learned to sew from her mother and started making and selling cloth bags, tea cozies, and other such small items before moving on to clothing.  Business became so successful that she graduated from her original shop at her mother's house to the current location where she has been for the past 13 years.  The shop is not big.  Between the hanging racks, stacks of fabric on the floor and shelves of fabric on the walls it can quickly get to be crowded.  But with all the colors and the kindness of Mrs. Shroff, the size only makes the place cozy.  After you have shed your shoes outside the door Mrs. Shroff will welcome you in and tell you to "make yourself comfortable."  My professor even told me that one day Mrs. Shroff told her that she should just come to sit in the shop if she were ever feeling depressed.  That is the kind of woman that Mrs. Shroff is: her customers come first and her good relations with them are of the utmost importance.   When she mentioned that sometimes she gets same-day orders, I asked if she charged more for those.  "No," she replied.  "I'm not doing this to make that kind of money.  Some of my customers have been coming to me since the very beginning.  I do not mind doing it for them."  She was not surprised when I told her I had been directed to her by my professor.  "I've known Gayatri Chatterjee for 15 years," she told me.  "She always sends her visitors to me."  Word of mouth is the main way that people find her.  It has been several years since she would occasionally go advertise to the Western yoga students at the yoga center nearby.   People come from all over the city, state and even country to get their clothes made by her and her team.  She has nine employees: two girls who help her with customers, and seven men.  Two men cut the cloth, one does embroidery, and the other four tailors are at the old-fashioned (to my eye) metal sewing machines that are squeezed into the room.  Each tailor makes approximately three outfits per day.  Once a week a man comes into the shop to sort out the clothing scraps.  "We try to reuse as much as possible," Mrs. Shroff explained.  The big scraps get put into a pile to be made into the clothing bags in which Mrs. Shroff packages your purchases, and the tinier strips are used to make the handles of paper bags.  To provide the wide variety of patterns, cloth and colors that her customers love Mrs. Shroff travels around the country to buy her fabric.  Some customers come into the store with an idea of what color, pattern, or style they want but others, like me, just know they want clothes so wander around until they find something that fancies them.  Most of her customers are women but some men come in to get traditional Indian kurtaa.  She also has one Western man who, when he is in town, usually orders 25 Western-style shirts.  The only clothing that she does not make are saris.  "You need to fit the blouses a special way and it is very tricky," she explained.  "I started out with salwar kameez and I like it, so I will stick with that."  What's her favorite part about her business?  "The creativity.  And the fabric – I love fabric."  I had never been to a tailor's shop before coming to India.  In the US, tailors are rare and usually too expensive for the average person.  But here it seems to be a part of life.  You need clothes?  You go to the tailor's to have them make some for you.  And in designing the outfit yourself you are given a greater freedom of self expression.  The best part, however, is that you know who made your clothes, how they did it and how much time and care was put into it.  Mrs. Shroff encouraged me to stand in the doorway of the workroom to watch the tailors at work cutting, ironing, sewing and embroidering.  It was amazing the amount of care and precision that was put into each seam and article of clothing.  Each loose thread was carefully cut away and each stitch done with perfection.  Watching the ease at which they created a 3D masterpiece from the 2D fabric, my appreciation for them (and for all the people who make my clothes) grew immensely. Mrs. Shroff told me that she will let me know when they are making my outfit so that I can come in and watch them make it. I love the tailor's.  It is now one of my favorite places to go and sit whenever I want.   It was great just being able to sit and chat and meet the different people from the neighborhood and community.  And in the process I gained a deeper respect for my clothing.  I wish we had more tailors in the US.  It might be a little more expensive than ready-made clothes or the quick tailors on Lakshmi road, but for the care and quality that Mrs. Shroff and her tailors produce, every rupee is well worth it.