I have always been inclined towards arts and love to add a dash of creativity to beautify things. My artistic skills led me to eventually run a small business in embroidery and stained glass painting; in later years, it has been a source of comfort I am very grateful for.

My tryst with art started in school, in Kolhapur. I was so fascinated with embroidery stitches that I learnt do them on my own. After I finished school, I moved to Mumbai with my family, and art and embroidery took a backseat for many years. I got a college degree and then took a personal secretary course. At first, I worked as a telephone operator and then as a personal secretary in Tolani Shipping.

It was at work that I met my future husband, who was a mechanical engineer. We got married in 1974 and had a baby girl. We lived in Andheri and I worked at Churchgate; on the long, daily train commute, I started to embroider saris, dupattas, cushions, and other stuff. A few years later, my husband’s work took us to Kuwait. I had a good job there and had to put embroidery on the backburner again. Two years later, my husband moved to another construction site in Iraq, and my daughter and I returned to India.

Back in Mumbai, I took a basic computer course and some art and hobby courses. I also learnt stitching and Warli painting. Fashion caught my fancy and I signed up for a year-long fashion design course at J D Institute of Fashion Technology. This was a turning point as I began to design clothes and participated in fashion exhibitions. However, the process of buying fabric, designing, embellishing it, beadwork, etc, was getting too tedious for me. So I switched to learning stained glass painting. In the late 1990s, we shifted to Chennai for two years owing to my husband’s job. The hot weather forced me to stay indoors and I saw this as my chance to get back to stained glass painting.

I used my time to make wall hangings, bookends, napkin holders, trays and other artefacts. I also created a pair of bookends with carved wood for my own home. One of my friends loved it so much that she placed an order for a similar product. That was my first order for stained glass painting and I earned ₹ 350 for it!

After returning to Mumbai, I revived my love for embroidery. I had contributed to the subscriber’s corner of Anchor’s Needle ‘N’ Thread 10 times with my original designs. Once, their editor asked if I wanted to sell one of my designs and I agreed. That paved the way for my embroidery business and I created other products such as saris, cushions, bags, clutches, bedsheets, table runners, bags, etc, in different sizes, for sale. My first order was a three-piece, centre-table cloth set.

I usually don’t repeat a design unless there’s a special order. I price my products from ₹ 150 to ₹ 6,000, with the price tag depending on the cost of the material and work involved. My love for embroidery helped me win a consolation prize in the All India Embroidery Contest held by Modi Threads and another one by the Pony Crafts Store in Tamil Nadu.

With the passage of time, my daughter grew up and got married and, in 2015, I lost my husband. Suddenly, I was all alone. I continued with my embroidery business and kept creating products, some of which are still waiting to be sold. Even if they do not sell, I will always be grateful that they helped me stay busy in my moments of loneliness. Embroidery is a dying art in today’s fast-paced world; I am even ready to teach it for free but there are no takers.

My newest experiments in art are a dream catcher and bangle tea-light holder. I have a flair for languages and to stay busy, I have signed up for a Bengali-speaking class. I also go to the gym and attend kathakathan (storytelling) sessions. For me, age is just a number; accept your wrinkles and move on!

—As told to Rachna Virdi

Photos: Haresh Patel
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
April 2018