Once upon a time when I was a Jacket Thief..
It’s been a long time I hadn’t visited my dad’s tailoring shop. He is the reason I don’t visit it. He kicks me out whenever he sees me around. There are many theories to why he does it. My mom says he was shocked when you told him that “I wish to become the best tailor in this world like him” (he didn’t want me to go through what he had been through) and the other one goes like this..
My reasons to visit the shop were umpteen except helping him. Many times it was borrowing money when I was in college. Actually, I was one of the biggest reasons he got in trouble with his customers. The shop’s location was in a pretty good area where cream la dream of the city use to live. As a kid and even now I have this big craze for jackets. These cream la dream use to wear really good clothes which were out of my reach. My father use to get a lot of tailoring work for Jackets and other fancy clothes.
My father is very strict when it comes to his work. No one can disturb him once he rolls the handle of his sewing machine, it stops when the work is done. He has a lot of discipline at this age which inspires me. Although it takes a toll on his health, he gets up at 530 am..has a cold water bath…does yoga, then pooja and then shouts at me to get up, then the breakfast and way to go. Comes back at 1030 pm. My mom was well aware of his habits and knew when to interrupt and when you shouldn’t.. but I was a careless brat in my family. So whenever I use to visit and interrupt his work, he use to politely(with a stern look) and his baritone voice say,
“If it isn’t urgent, you should wait….have patience till I finish”
I was an impatient, pretty rebellious teenager. Fights was something I constantly picked up in my junior college for which I had an year down. When he use to go for his “Chai” I use to sneak in the shop, ask my mom(who was always my torch bearer, my advocate…my love) to show some best jackets of his customers. Then I use to try them one by one & take the ones I loved. This use to happen more often as I got accustomed to his timings and my sweet mom use to call me to give me updates on his schedule. I am a crazy jacket lover. I wear jackets even in summers that’s how mad I can get.
Jackets make me comfortable for many reasons one of it is that I am pretty lean and tall … Jackets gave me a bit bulky shape. At those times, the shirts that I wore were very cheap quality and I could hide those by wearing a jacket. I use to visit mainly on occasions like traditional days, rose days, tie days and other occasions in college. So it was a well organized pact between mother and son until one day. Oh!!! That day. It’s so crystal clear in my memory.
I took one leather jacket and it was a pricey one. I had a timeline to give it back. The customer of that pricey leather jacket came pretty early for the delivery than expected. My father started the search but it was nowhere. Then he asks my mom,
“Where is the Jacket?”
My mom was blank and as a true girlfriend of mine she didn’t take my name. She knew that she cannot lie to him. When its about work, he becomes damn serious. I don’t know how in the blue moon my dad asked,
“Avinash Ala hota??” (Avinash was here??)
How confident he was about me? I wonder whether he knew the umpteen jackets that I had borrowed(One stolen) from the shop. When my mom narrated the whole incident, I was stunned. That day I got something that I deserved, a big lecture about discipline, truth and work.
His words were very harsh (he never gets physical, his words are enough) and they still are crystal clear..
“You can’t wear something that you haven’t earned. You have to earn it. Deserve it.” I have lived with this thought since then..
Sambhaji Sasane
Originally published at https://www.tumblr.com.