“In the past three decades of my service as a tailor, I have seen many trends come and go. But my reputation among the customers has always remained the same. They lovingly address me as ‘Babai’ whenever they visit my shop.

It all started when I moved to Kadapa in 1986 to earn a living. Back home, I used to work in the agricultural fields along with my father, but there wasn’t enough work. When I came here, I began to help my Uncle who was already an established trailer by then. He taught me all that I know about cutting and tailoring. After an apprenticeship with my uncle for two years, I opened this shop, Subhan Tailors, at Kadapa.

Weddings and festival season were busy times in the past. All the wedding orders, including trousers, suits, shirts, and saree blouses would come to us. Now, because of the ongoing pandemic situation, there isn’t much demand. We couldn’t even get the school uniform orders this year as the schools are shut for more than 4 months now.

I am stuck to tailoring since I do not know any other job. Youngsters are not coming into this field now because there’s no profit in this. If they work in a private company, they earn a minimum of Rs.15,000 a month. Here, unless you have finished work to show, you earn nothing. Now, all my machines in the shop lie idle. I have no workers to help me out with button work. I only do trousers and saree blouses and turn away others. There is no point in taking on work if you cannot deliver on time. Earlier, I used to open the shop at 8 AM and work till 9 PM. But now, I am growing old, so I open at 9:30 AM and shut at 7 PM. I live in Porumamilla with my wife, sons, and daughter in law. The house I built here is the only achievement of what I made out of this job so far and I am proud of it!”

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