Interview with Arvind Jaswar

(Q 1) INTERVIEWER: Do we have your permission to tape record?

(A1) ARVIND JASWAR: Yes, yes.

(Q 2) INTERVIEWER: Ok, great, and so please introduce yourself.

(A2) ARVIND JASWAR: Arvind Jaswar, Arampur:

(Q 3) INTERVIEWER: Ok, how many people are in your family?

(A3) ARVIND JASWAR: There are thirteen people in my family

(Q 4) INTERVIEWER: Amd when did your family arrive in this area?

(A4) ARVIND JASWAR: I really don't know exactly-we've been here a long time, generations.

(Q 5) INTERVIEWER: Alright, so were you born in this village?

(A5) ARVIND JASWAR: Yes, sir.

(Q 6) INTERVIEWER: And what work do you do?

(A6) ARVIND JASWAR: I handle cloth and clothing.

(Q 7) INTERVIEWER: Please explain to me something about this-for example, what does your work entail, what kind of clothing do people buy?

(A7) ARVIND JASWAR: People buy clothes according to different seasons. For example, right now it's the season of Id . There's more buying around festivals. And then it's less. During Hindu festivals, according to Hindu ways of doing things, saris and the like are sold. Right now, in terms of ladies, suits are sold. For example, Hindu women wear saris. Muslim women were suits. So, right now, suits and such are sold. Lungi's are sold a lot-Muslims wear lungis . All of this is to day, that it depends upon the "season."

(Q8) INTERVIEWER: Where do you get cloth and clothing from?

(A8) ARVIND JASWAR: I get clothing and clothfrom the nearest market-the main market is Kanpur . Also there's Mughal Sarai, Banaras .

(Q9) INTERVIEWER: Do you go there yourself or does a truck come and deliver them for you?

(A9) ARVIND JASWAR: A lot of times I have to go, sometimes to order-I write the order down and bring it with me. From there, it's sent via transport.

(Q10) INTERVIEWER: How many years have you been in this line of work?

(A10) ARVIND JASWAR: Twenty years.

(Q11) INTERVIEWER: What changes have come about in connection with fashion that you've seen? For example, women wear saris-do they wear the same kinds of saris they wore twenty years ago?

(A11) ARVIND JASWAR: Nope.

(Q12) INTERVIEWER: Well then.

(A12) INTERVIEWER: Yep, there's been a lot of change-it's like the difference between the land and the sky.

(Q13) INTERVIEWER: For example?

(A13) ARVIND JASWAR: Back then, there were cotton saris with various designs. Now, there's synthetics-different prints, different gleam, different designs. There are a lot of companies-a lot of them.

(Q14) INTERVIEWER: Why do women like synthetic fabrics?

(A14) ARVIND JASWAR: There's a gleam to them, a design that you're not going to get with cotton and that's why people wear them. They're also inexpensive. Cotton's really getting pricey.

(Q15) INTERVIEWER: Why is that, as far as you know?

(A15) ARVIND JASWAR: It's not exactly clear why that is. But basically, there's a lot of demand for cotton in foreign countries and the cotton comes from India , and the synthetic stuff comes from foreign countries to India .

(Q16) INTERVIEWER: Like from America or China ..?

(A16) ARVIND JASWAR: Not from India , mainly from America and Japan .

(Q17) INTERVIEWER: OK.

(A17) ARVIND JASWAR: The Japanese stuff is very "famous."

(Q18) INTERVIEWER: And with regard to male fashion, twenty years ago what did men wear?

(A 18) ARVIND JASWAR: Twenty years ago, for most people it was kurta dhoti or kurta pajama . Nowadays, people wear pants, shirts, jeans, coats, etc. This is to day that people turned in their pajamas for pants-they look like an entirely new generation, they don't even know how to wear a dhoti.

(Q19) INTERVIEWER: So, how did this change come about in your opinion?

(A19) ARVIND JASWAR: It's a time of liberalization. And people observe this going on all around them. There's Doordarshan , T.V. There's fashion propaganda. Doordarshan's come into the home. On Doordarshan , people see different kinds of people who wear a certain kind of clothes. I wear these kinds of clothes myself.