Slice of Life: ‘I need someone to carry on the craft’

I’ve been stitching since I was eight years old. When I was a child, my father used to ensure that I ate and then send me off to work at the Mylapore tank after school. He used to work there. I used to work every day till 8 pm or so. I specialised in gents clothing and churidars. That’s what I focused on when I was younger. I’ve kept this shop for the last 10 years or more. I mainly get altering work from the people in the area and have a lot of regulars. My daughter got married and she has two children. The older grandson is in Class 10. He’s always worried about examinations. he will stop by my shop every day. I give him a glass of milk and biscuits. I’ve been meaning to teach stitching. He’s got the interest in it. I want someone to carry on the craft in our family. But he’s so busy with school. You need to be of a clear mind when you do this work and he is too worried about his exams now. If he learns, he’ll have another occupation he can look into along with his studies. It is not only studying gets you work. I only studied till Class 8 and I’m still caring for my family.