In this section, you can read about the diverse backgrounds of the people who bring Eternal Creation designs to life. We'll be adding more stories over the coming weeks and months, so visit again soon!
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Tsering Dolma, tailor Tsering Dolma, 23, is a tailor from Lithang, Kham, in Eastern Tibet. She comes from a large family who make a living by collecting medicinal herbs from the mountains for traditional Tibetan medicine. She hasn't seen her family for seven years, and dreams of returning to Tibet one day. |
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Kalsang Dolma, tailor Kalsang Dolma, 24, comes from a nomadic family in Bawa, Kham. Before arriving in Dharamsala Kalsang spent her days shepherding a herd of yaks across the vast open grasslands of Eastern Tibet. She misses her old life in Tibet, but is happy to learn new tailoring skills. |
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Arshad, head of sampling Arshad, 25, is head of the sampling room and cuts all of the new designs, usually without a pattern! This talented young man comes from Delhi, and is the second oldest of eight children. He started working as a tailor in Delhi at 15, and quickly learnt freehand cutting from his older brother. He sends almost all his salary to his parents who are saving to buy their first house, and to help with the education of his younger brothers and sisters. |
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Bablu, sampling tailor Bablu, one of our most talented tailors, comes from Fatepur village in West Bengal. He's an only child, and his father died in a fight when he was six months old. He learned to sew when he was ten, and has been working as a tailor ever since, supporting his wife and two children as well as his mother, who doesn't have access to a pension. Bablu's dream is to have his own tailoring business one day in Fatepur. |
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Dolma, creche manager Dolma, 35, runs the crèche, looking after several of the tailors' young children. She comes from a family of Tibetan nomads from Kham, in Eastern Tibet. In 2001, she trekked for two months over the Himalayas to reach Dharamsala. The crossing, which normally takes about 20 days, was made in mid-winter as the guide thought they would be safer from Chinese patrols. However, due to extremely bad weather they were repeatedly lost in blizzards and snow storms, and eventually stumbled into a border area guarded by soldiers. They were fired upon by the guards, whose job is to prevent Tibetans crossing the border by any means, and their only escape was to jump into a freezing river. Subsequently many of the group of thirteen, including Dolma's sister and a three year old boy, got severe frost bite. Her sister lost one toe, and Dolma still has severe pain in her legs and back due to exposure to extreme cold. Dolma has since married and has two daughters, one of whom attends the crèche. She's happy in Dharamsala, and has no plans to return to Tibet, partly because she's afraid of the formidable Himalayan crossing. |
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Jampel, stock manager Jampel, a Tibetan born in South India, manages the stock, keeping track of everything from fabric to buttons and hundreds of metres of lace and ribbons. Childhood polio left him with a severe limp, but with the help of the workshop he now has a prosthetic leg. None of this has dampened his enthusiasm for life - or sport for that matter - he's also the goalkeeper for the workshop football team! |
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Israil, head embroiderer Israil, 34, comes from a remote village in Jharkand, a newly formed state which was formerly part of Bihar in North India. He has worked as an embroiderer for 14 years, and has worked in different parts of India, including Delhi and Amritsar. Israil misses his wife and three children, and regularly makes the 36 hour train trip to see them. He would like to bring his family to Dharamsala, but being Muslim he wants his children to learn Urdu and Arabic, which is not available at schools in Dharamsala. |
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Tsering, production manager Tsering was born in the small Tibetan settlement of Mundgod in Karnataka, South India, where she was raised by her grandmother. By 13 Tsering had fallen in love, and by 19 was married and pregnant with her first daughter, Thai. She joined her mother in Pune, a large city near Mumbai which hosts the Osho Bagwan, to help with the family garment wholesale business. When her daughter started school, Tsering went back to college and completed her diploma in fashion design. She moved to Dharamsala in 2006 so her daughters could attend a Tibetan language school, and joined Eternal Creation in 2007. |
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Nitika, head of hand-finishing Nitika, 24, studied embroidery in a local college. She enjoys her job a lot and hopes she can continue her career here after marriage, depending on the wishes of her husband and his family. Nitika will soon have a traditional arranged marriage, although she hopes it will be 'love with arranged'! According to custom the wife moves in with her husband's family, and is often expected to assume a purely domestic role, so Nitika's future career is a little uncertain. |
© 2012 Eternal Creation
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