Manhar Bhai , My Saree blouse Darji

My Saree blouse tailor Manhar Bhai is a very important person in my life. I started wearing sarees at work. The most important thing while wearing a saree is the fit of your saree blouse. The saree blouse gives us the chest, the posture, the subtle show of the collar bones and the back. The depth of the neck of the blouse depended on how much cleavage you wanted to show. Some liked low backs in their blouse and some liked low plunging necklines. The blouses were made of Rubia two by two which was pure cotton or silk. Later a fabric called 'lizzy bizzy' came into existence which was synthetic and the color took longer to fade. I did try all three fabrics and came to the conclusion that cotton was most suited for me. Some colleagues were okay in their synthetic blouses too. We did go out in the sun to sales call on different corporate houses. Wanted to look as less hassled as we could. The high neck blouses were almost out of fashion for us though the service staff had to wear high neck saree blouses with long sleeves. The Sales and Marketing executives could wear blouses with short sleeves (we called it meghya sleeves ) or the sleeveless variety. I don't know if the executives wore the deep cut blouses to say they were not from the House Keeping or some other service department. There were no designer blouses or designers. They were all 'Darjis' and they did have some books where you could choose a pattern from.Today we call some women who stitch our clothes as designers as 'darji' is not apt for them. Some get it stitched through other 'darjis' so we call them designers as they give a pattern to your clothes. I joined work with some three sarees and two borrowed sarees from my room mate. I had three blouses in black, maroon and a green. They had to match with every saree by hook or by crook.

I begged my mother to send me her sarees from Dhanbad. My smart Mom sent me a suitcase full of really old sarees of my Aunt. Now the job was to stitch new blouses for these really old sarees. The colors or fabric shades just would not match. I faced some snigger from the shopkeepers too. My Mumbai Aunt had once taken me to her tailor on Forjett Street at Kemps Corner. To make some sense of those old fashioned printed sarees, I decided to get  decent blouses stitched . Manhar bhai made blouses with amazingly good fit. My confidence in those old sarees grew. The hotel colleagues wore Kanjeevarams or south silks to work. I did not have any. In Dhanbad, Mom and Chachi wore more of Kotas and Organzas with some printed silks thrown in. In the Mumbai work scenario, only old Aunties wore those 'kadak' fabrics. They looked very Marwari Dadi Grandmother type of sarees to me. I did not have a single bright coloured saree in rich silk. Neither did I have the excellent weaves of West Bengal the Dhakai or the Jaamdaani. I started purchasing sarees with my first salary. It started with the typical Maharashtrian cotton sarees with borders which we call Pune sarees. Then every trip I took for work, I bought a couple of sarees from the cities I visited. Shopping was with the local city colleagues to their favourite shops. Since the blouse bit was handled, I was confident about carrying a saree. We never wore the NGO type sarees with mismatch or mix and match blouses. We never ever carried a Jhola. It was always a smart looking black, brown or beige purse. No one carried coloured bags in those days. Neons existed but only in the strobe lights at the discotheques.

The shop where Manhar Bhai was in a residential complex with lots of children and very few cars. There were lot of tailors working in one shop. They were all from the tailor community in one part of Gujarat. The tailors were related to each other and worked in small groups. They shared the rental of the place. It was a sight of some twenty men sitting in a large room on mats and sewing blouses. The hem by hand and the hooks were so neatly stitched. There was no fashion of net blouses or halters. People mostly wore blouses with 'katori' or a cup. Hardly some people wore the blouse with just ducts. A good tailor was someone who made good well fitted 'katori' waala blouse. The blouses did not have any padding. We did not get any fancy bras in India which gave you a bigger bust or more cleavage . Your saree blouse had to take care of everything under which you wore an ill fitting bra. Bras were only in two colors black and white. Beige as a colour was not invented in bras:) Some colleagues wore very transparent blouses and some people got a cotton lining put. The cotton lining is called 'astar' and a good Darji washed the star fabric before stitching the blouse. Blouse fit changes immediately as soon as you put on weight. Manhar Bhai was very scandalised by Saree blouse instructions of having less fabric every where. I was getting bolder.  Later the partners did not get along, some passed away and some moved residence and the iconic tailoring shop shut down.

Manhar Bhai started operating from home. His house in Chikhal Wadi is worth an experience. This is the chawl which has been shown in lot of Hindi films. His two daughters are married now. The couple had come to give me the wedding card of the elder daughter. Last time I went, I saw the second floor house of his had a small wooden pata or a partition. This is used in houses where all doors are kept open and if you do not want the toddler to walk out of the house. He has a grandchild. His son is college educated and wants a job in accounts in any firm. Manhar Bhai s wife helps him with hemming and making eyes for the hooks. He is not able to find an assistant. Since his shop is not on the ground floor or in a rich colony, he is not getting any business from passerby women. He wants his son to earn and support himself. The wife who was cooking and chatting  said that they have spent a lot of money in the two weddings and the grandchild's delivery. The son wants to earn and study with his own money. He does not know anything about the stitching blouse business which is a specialised skill on its own. I have tried tailors in a lot of areas and no one gave the fit like Manhar Bhai can give to a saree blouse.

I just felt bad that this skill is not passed down generations and it will die a natural death. I don't think any tailor's  new generation son is trained to be a tailor. The parents also don't want the skill and business to be continued. Same is the case with the farmers. They want their children to be in semi urban jobs. It is not the same as a Doctor's son wants to become a Doctor and so on. Today the rural farmer wants to see at least one child in the city. His land is fragmented. There are multiple owners of the land. Some litigation issues or some encroachment on the land. Decision about the land can't be taken by the farmer as he is not the sole owner. The big land owners must be bullying the small land farmers. In the urge to make a quick buck and the over selling of pesticides is depleting his produce and making the soil unhealthy. Urbanisation is the key. If no one is forced to take a profession or they see some pride in the profession, our young gen might take it up.