MORNING COFFEE 14 - gratitude
by Susan Weber
Rohinton Mistry in A Fine Balance brings three tailors—a woman and two men—into such fine focus they magnify and clarify the churning injustices of Post-Partition India. As readers, we become the victims and the perpetrators all in one.
When I was in Pushkar, picking out a pillowcase in a small shop, the young clerk turned one of them inside out because I’d said to my niece I liked the fabric but the stitching was off. With no promise from me that I’d buy it, he took the item to his treadle sewing machine, teased out the offending thread, and fed the cloth under his needle. He nodded when I asked permission to film.
It was one of the few times in my India travels that I felt I had anything remotely relevant to offer this enormous, mysterious, ancient land. He allowed me to witness his expertise and take a small piece home to my sparsely educated world.
On this day of saying grace, may it illuminate yours.
Photo by Skasish CC BY-SA 4.0
Video by Susan Weber CC-BY-SA-4.0