Ever since I was a child the only profession that has been part of our lives has been tailoring ,,my fathers family were rich vinegar merchants but he opted for tailoring and master cutting.
He very much wanted me to get into this family trade but somehow my heart was not a bit into tailoring , I was a questioning child and my dad short tempered hated to give answers so the measuring curved scale was his reply .. I decided tailoring was not my cup of tea.. but somehow God pushes you towards what you hate and I opted for tailoring in the end , after a stint selling washing machines , air conditioners at Muttrah Muscat with Dr Hamed Al Riyamis Tecodev in the 80s did not get me anywhere .. I also tried to sell textiles at Ruwi with Al Anwar Stores at Ruwi Muscat but called it a day ,,
Came back to Mumbai and took up tailoring ,, and so this tailor down the road made me think of myself in his place ..but even that was not to be I became a high end Darzi,, I dont like to be called a stylist or a fashion designer ,, a trade that should be reserved for a few copy cats ,,
And whatever I am today is because of tailoring and luckily my kids wont have to be tailors ..in my family only my younger brother is in this tailoring cutting field ,, others all branched out to professions of their choice ,
But if my parents were well off and had I used my aptitude I could have become a journalist my Dad used to make clothes of Mr Rusi Karanjia and he took me to Mr Karanjias office ,, he looked at me and said Son you better take up your fathers trade there is a better future in it this was in the 60s ,,
And in the 80s I was making Mr Rusi Karanjias safaris and suits,, and suits of late Mr Leybourne Callaghan .
The only person whose clothes I will miss making is late Mr Rajesh Khanna he had great hopes for me and it was Mr Khanna who forced me to leave highly paid job I had ,, he said be self dependent and he promised he would see I was well settled these were his prayers wishes for me, perhaps in my entire life he was one of the most human loving actors and the next Mr Danny Denzongpa ,, who has contributed to my sartorial humility .. and Mr Shakti Kapoor and Mr KRK , the one and only Mr Kamal Khan.
