I discovered the art of rafoo out of necessity when I moved to Mumbai at the age of 33. Some of my old shirts, ones that had kept me good company and become old friends, were fraying and needed salvaging. In fear of causing more damage with my needle, I decided to take them to the rafoogars of Byculla, where the experts could lend a skilled hand.
Right from my first encounter with a rafoogar, I knew this was an extremely fine technique. The thread of a fabric, in this case a moth-eaten cashmere shawl, was pulled and threaded onto a needle to darn with the same thread. The result is a finished job that makes the fix look like a part of the fabric. It doesn't feel alien, it just blends in.
For the shoot, I took out this old friend, and even so many years later it was still impossible to locate the rafoo. We had to hold it against the light to find the thread, like a beauty spot on a well-loved piece of cloth.
A typical rafoogar has cupboard-sized workshops lined up in a row. In these five-foot-wide and three-foot-deep boxes that are the size of a writing desk, men are at work throughout the day. When you see them engaging in their craft, they are in a meditative state, nothing and no one around can distract them. It's just synchronised hands, needles touching cloth, and the repetition of their craft at work.
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