Do Lucknow

Our ‘monolingual’ guest today was a darji, a tailor.  We all sat in the main room; five teachers, Shuklaji who makes tea, Sandeep who administrates and us six students.  The darji came with his daughter and introduced himself and showed us his daughter’s work, gorgeous embroidered ‘chikan.’ The kind of clothes you only get for weddings or mushairas: 5000 rupees and that kind of thing.  We asked him questions and he would answer and I understood almost nothing when he started going beyond the simple explanations like where did he learn to sew and how is business compared to ten years ago.  And then the meeting took a dramatic turn:  first Nathan recited a poem about clothes, then Aftab sahab another about love, then the Darji several about roses, traveling the world, and loneliness.  He sang a ghazal that almost made me cry! I didn’t even understand it.  It was so beautiful. 

Then we had tea, and I asked his daughter for sewing and embroidery lessons, and then she put on her burka and they left.  It was the first time I ever talked to anyone in a burka.  I think it does make your eyes more beautiful.  And sometimes I even understand the attraction of wanting to be underneath all that covering.  Not for god or modesty; just to get away from all the constant staring. 

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