THE SIX YARDS STORY OF DRAPENEUR

what if i told you

that there’s a woman out there whose

profession is simply draping

garments like sarees and dupattas and

such

doesn’t sound very impressive does it

now what if i told you

that this woman actually knows how to

drape a saree

in 325 variations

and also is recognized as

worldwide as the fastest saree draper

and also if i told you that her

clienteles actually include

some of the most popular film stars

industrialists

and even politicians quite a plot twist

hello everyone i am dolly jen a drape

artist

and i am going to share my story of the

girl next door

to a saree stylist or

say a dre premiere

many of you have seen the glamorous side

of dolly

on facebook twitter instagram etc

but today you will know what went into

the person

that is standing in front of you

so here my story begins my story began

roughly 25 years ago i got married

into a fairly orthodox family

i was only allowed to wear sarees and

trust me

trust me guys i hated them they were so

cumbersome

and the process just felt too elaborate

over a period of time my family

eventually became

less stringent about their only sari

rule

and i was allowed to wear other form of

clothes

suddenly i realized i mean suddenly when

i

i had a choice i realized i missed the

grace and beauty

of asari can you believe this

and now i’ll tell you what happened i

still remember that evening

when i wore a saree to an event i

i actually i am from a family with

limited resources

and hence had to repeat the sarees at

functions

i wore the same saree for the evening

which i had worn a week back

what i just did was i just changed the

drape of the saree and i wore it in a

different way

guess what happened by the time i left

the function

my bag was full of compliments

suddenly i asked myself dolly do you

realize

what just happened it made me realize

i could make an old saree look like a

new one

just by changing the trip and

this was like this was a valve

moment for me i replayed the entire

evening for a couple of days

and i started to ask myself is there an

opportunity

that i can make a difference you know

to the same study by dripping it

differently

i was like dolly don’t get carried away

with just

one evening sorry draping as a

profession

no way cut to today when i have

more awards than i ever imagined in my

wildest dreams was it easy

not a tall friends it wasn’t easy at all

it took me so much persistence that only

some some who are really slaves

of their passion can garner

today i can proudly display my awards

and

talk about my success but friends

this wasn’t easy at all

just imagine i mean just imagine you’re

going and telling your family

that you want to become a trap artist

imagine what people around will commend

how much free advice you will get

to derail you from your dream

i realized i need to work very hard

and i was you know as i was stepping

into

a completely new territory

i started to practice every day for

hours

and this one habit has not changed till

date

even today i practice every single day

the practice made me first get into you

know the basic of saree draping right

once the basics were in place i could

play around

more i played around the more fun

it became to me i kept asking myself

questions like what if i take the palla

like this

what if i paired it with this

uh actually it took me a while before my

vision of

style got converted into reality

besides practicing daily i started to

read

more books i met locals

started you know started noticing and

learning various

styles of saree draping from all over

the country

whenever i felt i have gathered

enough i would let my creative urges

do their thing over time

i came up with many drapes

and not just that i had begun to

understand

which style complements which type of

fabric

and the design and also or

body type of the person that would be

wearing it

i had also by then become very confident

about my speed and i had contacted a lot

of publishers

you know to write about me and my story

you see i wanted to prove to the world

and not only the world i think i wanted

to prove

to myself that yes i’m the best

and i’m the fastest i set a record

at 18 and a half seconds with the unique

world record the same person who used to

take

45 torturous minutes

every morning miracle never sees

oh the thrill of being the best

in the world is something

today i have positioned myself in a way

where i can use my talent to travel

all over the world supporting a purpose

that i truly believe in the sixth yard

magic so believe

believe that it is possible you can

truly be the best

version i mean the best best version of

yourself

that you wish to be there will be

obstacles

but you have more power than you know

i am where i am today because of a lot

of reasons

but i’m also here despite of

a lot of reasons i have never let

anything i have really never let

anything deter me from my path

i have worked very hard and i have

had to teach myself a lot of things

so once i mastered the art of traiping

my next

obstacle was my lack of

a proper high school education

i have had only formal education till

seventh grade

some of you might be thinking that she’s

joking

not at all my dear friends i was never

fluent in english

and i had no idea about computers

both actually post a big challenge

because i had to pitch through emails to

the wedding planners and designers

when i didn’t even know what backspace

was

you see i cannot even believe that i am

confident enough to admit this today

because it’s something that i’ve always

been

very embarrassed of

but i’m sharing that with you today

so you know no matter what no matter

what your starting point is

where you can reach has

no limits so i’ll tell you what

my career started with very small

jobs where i would teach small groups of

say

2-3 girls and a few basic styles

i never i will never forget i was

invited

to teach a rather larger gathering in

raipur i still remember

how nervous i was and i had

no experience of talking in front of

so many people i didn’t know

what to wear how to talk

or how to address etc

i knew that the way i conducted myself

had to be improved a bit but there was

no time and i could not let an

opportunity like this pass me by

so i did this even it was a huge success

as they told me to stay back for another

day

for another session i mean what better

could it be

as like as just a startup

isn’t it amazing that the nervous

lady today actually employs

and trains other women under her

so through the word of mouth i was

invited by

big business houses for draping sarees

for brides and other family members

and since then and since then i’ve

never looked back

i sometimes sit and wonder

what would have been if i had not

persisted

if i had given it to those who actually

called me

mad you know mad for pursuing

such a career some said that they had

never heard such a thing and some

said that it was to beneath

me they were so sure that i would

fail that i would fail in my career

that i would fail um fail as a mother

due to being so overly occupied with my

job

why our society looks down upon working

womans

i will never be able to understand but

i proved them all wrong

my wonderful husband and i

have raised two kind and intelligent

daughters

with whom i spent ample amount of time

and they are very proud of the woman

i am so yes

i have a long way

i mean i have come a long way and i have

a long way to go

and many more hurdles to cross i hope

that when they come

i will cross them gracefully and

fearlessly

so for to me being fearless is all about

freedom freedom to choose

what i want to do freedom

freedom to express yourself

and maybe freedom to fail

if i can make a life guys

if i can make a life out of six yards

imagine with all the resources and

opportunities

that you all have what you all can do

so thank you so much

jain