Dispatches from real India (Part 3): Vasu, the tailor.

In the first two parts of this series (1)(2), I talked to and about common people in the beverage business. For a change, we will now take up a sartorial subject. The man in question here is Mr.Vasu of Vasu Tailors, Kattoor, Coimbatore.Vasu of Vasu Tailors has been stitching my shirts and pants, mending torn ones and resizing them as needed over the past 20 years. I had been using my dads tailor until then but Vasu worked closer and was more accessible and I decided to shift my allegiance. I have not looked back since. Vasu offers excellent and timely stitching services for a very reasonable price. Added to which, he drops them off at my house when it is done. Talk about free home delivery.[gallery ids="1207,1208,1209"]Over the past few years, much of India has been engulfed in the ready-made craze. There are ready made clothing showrooms everywhere. They hawk their prices in dollar equivalents that now puts my wallet to shame. I find it expensive beyond comparison- even by dollar converted currency standards. In the midst this sea change in customer preferences, Vasu offers a way to get well tailored, custom fit clothes for a significantly cheaper price. Even with excellent fabrics, the tailored, custom fit shirts and pants end up being very reasonable. Vasu has added women's clothing to his repertoire which his tailors stitch all day. This supports the original enterprise of men's tailoring which is not as robust as it used to be.As usual, I stopped by Vasu's this week with some alteration requests. This was a menial job for him and not at all worth his labor time. It is back to school season in India and uniform stitching in full swing. Every tailor worth his skill is in huge demand and swamped with work. But I was leaving town in two days and had no one else to trust my clothing with. Vasu being the good friend that he is, could not say no. As promised, he delivered the altered clothes on time and for much less than the labor was worth.I struck up a conversation with Vasu as he was working through a couple of school uniform pants. He talked about his background where he moved to Coimbatore from a small village close to Palghat at the age of 18 to open his own tailoring shop. His current shop has been his haunt for the past 35 years. He has been stitching clothes since 1970. In that time, he has gotten married, had 3 kids, put them through college and gotten all of them married, all while he was toiling in his shop on clothes like mine. His kids are now settled and he is relieved of all that worry. I asked him if he is happy now. He said yes. He then paused for a few moments and then remarked, "All my life has been spent within these four wall toiling away that I know nothing else. I wish I had the time and wherewithal to explore the world and see things. But now, it is too late."As India shifts rapidly towards a consumption economy driven by brands and glitz, it helps to cultivate and support local small businesses like Vasu Tailors. They offer much better value for money, a personal experience and a long lasting relationship built on trust, unlike any other.Other Posts in the series:Dispatches from real India (Part 1)Dispatches from real India (Part 2)