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