Around the town in 5 months!
This Hakoba saree of mine traveled from one corner of Belgaum to the other and got back to me after five months. This one was part of a lot of 18 sarees ,both silks and cottons which went to the dhobi one fateful summer day and thus began its long journey. When I didn’t hear from him for more than two weeks ,I dropped by to inquire and learnt that he was absconding for the last fortnight as he was unable to repay his huge debts .His wife and MIL meanwhile had delivered the ironed clothes to clients some of which were picked up by some memsaab’s who came to his house for the same. My lot was missing from the scene !! Before I could say anything both the ladies burst into tears saying they were abused and beaten up by people for missing clothes. Although I was MAD as HELL I couldn’t do a shit about it and got back home after a thorough search convinced that my sarees had gone to the wrong hands.
I tried to forget about the whole matter and after a few days didn’t give much thought to it.
After five months one of my clients and her sister walk into my boutique with five sarees asking me to convert them into salwar kameez for her as she doesn’t ever wear sarees she says …one look and I recognized my sarees !! At a complete loss of what to say I discussed cuts and patterns with her for a while then unable to contain myself any longer I blurted out ” I had the same sarees which got misplaced by my dhobi !!” They exchange looks with each other, go out to their car and discuss and come back saying I think these belong to you . I think I was more embarrassed than happy given the situation . Their excuse was their driver had collected a bundle of clothes from the dhobi for them and they did not know whom the 18 sarees belonged to and hence after 5 months they decided to make suits of them!! Anyways cutting a long story short the next day they delivered the rest of my sarees to my Boutique. What I fail to understand is why didn’t they just drop it back to the poor dhobi’s house if it didn’t belong to them. Strange are the ways .