Beautiful Things Are Created One Stitch At A Time…
Meet Ilyas, a 28-year young tailor from Bihar from a remote village called Verva. “I had a tough time learning the art, the going was really tough and it is poverty led me to Delhi, from where I started, and following the trend and thinking that people were getting better rates in Gurgaon, I moved to Vyapaar Kendra in 2009.
Fortunately, the person in front of whose curtain shop I got to set up my machine, does not ask me to pay anything as rental (and is also generous in letting me keep my machine and my clients’ clothes in his shop for free). He says that his presence in front of his shop attracts many lady clients who patronise his ‘Landlord’s’ shop as well – so that is his compensation for rent. “And who does not like inquisitive ladies – I meet so many of them and it is their intricacy in design that makes me bring in a larger choice in my store” says the owner with an ear-to-ear smile.
I am married, I have 2 kids, my father stays with me, and we all live in a Jhuggi, which is just a one-room shack with asbestos (which he pronounces as ALBASTOR) sheets serving as ceiling, in addition to which, there’s just enough place for cooking and bathing, for which I pay Rs. 3,000 as rent, plus whatever there is as my share for electricity, for which there is no meter. So we’re getting used to this shackle-type living.
One of my greatest responsibilities I had was to get my sister married, for which I took loan from the lenders on high interest as no bank would come to our help. I want my kids, the two boys that I have, to study for a better life as I don’t want them to go through the tough times and the struggles that I have seen. (stitching is a sew-sew job) The silver lining, though, has been that his wife is employed by the local Aanganwadi, where she cooks Khichdi for people and, being a Sarkari Karamhacri, she is paid enough to finance for our kids’ education. My dad works in fields and in harvest time, I also pitch in to help him and get to earn some extra money. “So far, so good, I look back and I see that compared to the earlier times, I stand to be in far better condition. Not only do my customers keep coming back to me, they also refer me to the others and I see my business growing well” – Thank you, Sushant Lok Vyapaar Kendra..
