The Tipping Point

I come from a background where we have lived as nomads all my life. Growing up in various places since childhood was always about schooling and blending in with new friends from dissimilar-cultural ethics and values. I came from a breed whose upbringing was never just "one" place. As a matter of fact that it was always hard enough to answer, which town are you from? The response to which was always “everywhere”. With different peers, I adapted to different linguals and understood the lifestyles of culturally distinct individuals. I was privileged to live through the diversity we Indians take pride in. I did not quite theoretically learn what it meant to be an Indian but lived through by being born and raised in almost 25 of 28 states. Growing up, I had to fall in love with the people, their traditional attires, the different states I stayed and the festivals I attended. Authentic food, art and rituals of divergent states would fascinate me always to the truth that they were so close to nature and the crafts they practised never harmed anybody. Sustainability just became a part of me. The more I dug deeper into it, the more curious I became about our history.

Packing up every two years and moving about from Northern Himalayas to the Western ghats or even the Khasi hills, only to realise this was almost all my life. I grew up mostly accompanying my mother to various shops where she would buy sarees and fabrics. In Rajasthan, I accompanied her to the shops where she bought bandhani and showed me how people religiously practised the skill to make a living. She made me visit looms at Kanjiwaram as a child, and I would listen to her talk about silks they poetically weaved to the cotton details she would enquire about in Uttar Pradesh. I always felt delighted to be a part of such tradings. She would ask the shopkeeper about the latest georgette fabrics in the market and I would want to touch and feel the fabric in my hand. She often scolded the dye master for not dying her dupattas the correct colour. I would be delighted to be a part of her shopping experiences. To all these places I ever accompanied. I never understood them fully. But was definitely attentive to the experiences. Learning heritage was consistently shaping me up. To this day, I decided to study it closely as Lord Kelvin would quote, “ You cannot improve that you cannot measure. ” Which implied I wanted to study it closely to understand it better.

I enrolled in a design college which was far away from what I actually thought it would be. Initially, the decision was made because I always thought adulting was hard. I shall escape from it all to cut out sleeves from a stitched shirt or rip my pants apart and tag myself as a designer. But here is what I can tell after giving almost 6 years to get myself educated on design and fashion. From many misconceptions, I rendered in my mind as to what art, Fashion and Design were, usually in the worst scenario, words interchangeably used, to graduating and learning that it is nothing that it looks like. It’s deeper than what it portrays. It’s a connection with the conscious and thoughtful.

I believe I have been privileged enough to be a part of NIFT Shillong which taught me what it is meant to be a part of one. Many people still do not understand our course and curriculum. Fair enough! When I was a fresh mind I saw the world pretty much through the same lens as yours. Once I became a part of the other side it felt completely different. I did not understand any of it immediately. In fact, I went through self-discovery. It was a journey of its own.

So, I understood fashion is not the glamour and is not a petra dish that cultures drugs or a pool flooded with beauty and likes that makes you study celebrity gossip. It is far beyond, in fact, none of it. Yes, art, design and craft are a subject of their own. The education was well structured around the culture we are deeply rooted in. The rich history of looms we have that the Colonization of the British Raj took away from us. Culturing ourselves in these institutions, we learnt to appreciate this diversity. We were constantly motivated to work closely with the artisans. We studied their lifestyle and spent time appreciating their hard work instead of living the fashion college serotype.

It shaped me to be rooted closely in history and tradition with my quirkiness of tomorrow. It taught me the importance of culture in changing times. It taught me to be offbeat, experimental and bold with my approach towards design.