R days

Ravissant days!!!!

RAVISSANT means ravishing and it has no connection with the name of the owner Ravi Chawla.

One experience is not enough to make resolutions

This is to continue 'The woman boss' woe from my previous post


May 2002 began the Ravissant story

Though i never reported to Meena directly, the director however was being directed by her.
Thus if while passing by she saw us designers bent over a pattern and discussing, and reported that designers are just chatting way...and thats the way the facts changed.
If meena decided that some of the karigars were stinking and needed a bath, it would not be a big deal if you found some of them locked in the loos.
If she thought you were unlucky everytime you wore black to ofc then she would make it sure you never had any blacks in your wardrobe anymore


When i joined the company i did not know what she looked like. on asking i was told if i came across something tiny, red and steaming i would know it was her.if it made you cry then the identity was even more confirmed.

When i was introduced to her, she was crawling on the floor from one end of the room to another examining the edges of some garments. when she looked at me, with the 'beware of me' look i did get cold hands, and a dry throat.

The merchandisers who reported to her never survived the company more than 3months.

Meena Chawla, mother of 3 ,cared a bit too much ...:)specially for her son
so she got him home-factory made underwears, which stopped all production work for 3 days.
no the son is wasnt a baby. he had been married once, has a daughter, has a new model girlfriend and is heard to be involved in the Natasha singh murder case.

So ...one fine morning when i walked into the production deptt, hoping to check some of the orders when i saw everyone busy cutting and sewing a checkerd fabric, the kind that never had connection with the company. on asking what that was masterjee tells me-'Vishal jee ke kacche ban rahey hain'
do i need to add any more to that situation?

I usually reported my work to Padmini
who is padmini? what was she like?
Padmini, NID- 1980 batch . i have never seen such wonderful visualization of colour and harmony and such fast sketches of original patch work designs ever.our clients specially requested for Padmini's ideas.
As a woman she is still an inspiration.

but as a boss!!!!ouch!!!! again
if she claimed she saw knitted ribs in a woven piece of fabric you couldnt argue.
if you pointed out tissues cant be used for bed covers,just when she is using it for the purpose, because colours oxidized, you would have to bear the brunt of her anger of 'why being corrected, she knows it'

Anyhow!!!
these few women are just not 'all the women' Ive worked with.....

Resolutions are thus not made in a day

The lilac lavender queen

Never work for 'woman' boss

Thats my resolution.

Year 2001
Ihad just passed out of Pearl and was extremely demoralised by an unresponsive industry and my high hopes. i had quit 'malika exports' where the boss was a psycho. he had fit video cameras everywhere in the office and spent all his time hearing what his employees were speaking to each other about.

Meanwhile i was also applying to all the companies whose names sounded stylish.
'Trendex' was one of them which later became 'Linenscapes'
I spoke to some woman that morning. She attentively heard all i had to say about myself and then gave me an appointment for the next day, to see my work.

Hence on Rashmi Kaura entered my life... the boss
Rashmi Kaura, 50 then, wife of Sudhir Kaura the owner of Samtel industries was running this export house to earn some pocket money.

She offered me decent amount of money and i joined

The first few days Rashmi would call me to show what she wanted from my designs. she would try to explain through pictures in magazines,and this is how she would explain.

turn page-' look at this shape'...turn page...'use that shape within this pattern'...turn page..'these colors are lovely'..turn page...'add this finish with a little bit of..'..turn page...'this technique and'..turn page...'this technique'

If you did not mark the page numbers....then pray before you meet her next time


I was a fresher then and never questioned reworking on my designs.
one of my first projects with her was on children's collection for home furninshing.
big flowers, animated figures of animals and children, bright colours. The designs i tried to create were both educational and fun at the same time.Rashmi like most of the ideas ,but i had to rework the face of my frog only 12 times, change one of the 8 petals of one flower in a bunch countless number of times, make some 20 different ballerina poses combined with all kinds of technique applications.
i dont know how many pieces does that make in total....

Before the Heimtextil 2002 we had become a big team, with a lot of freelance designers and 4 merchandisers
Rashmi discussed the designs and concepts in a group. she would look though someone's concepts, give her opinion and then she would ask one the rest watching about their opinion.

Here's the trap...


You cant always agree with her...she will snap...'tum to khud kuch sochtey nahi ho. jo bhi mai kehti hoon wohi kehtey ho'

The only people who could trick rashmi were her workers.
A very talented and smart group of karigars, who were more like friends back then.
when freshers joined, and were clueless about how to handle the aboove problems, designs werent working and colors were not right( all according to rashmi)
karigars came to rescue. they knew the real secrets.
they called rashmi- lilac lavendar madam. lilac and lavender were two colours everyone in the company knew by heart. when nothing worked, work your designs in this combination and it would become the miracle design.

One had to just survive rashmi,irrespective of the fact that the designs were bringing orders to the company.

However there was a side that no one saw. a few of us...me, Monit and Sumit perhaps know her more than the rest wanted to find out.i guess we three became her trust buds, though i never figured out why.
she showed me her billing methods with other designers, i knew she was unhappy without a child and that she loved gol gappas. but i also realised she just couldnt keep secrets. so i never got close.
i have never seen a more generous boss than herself...
once while travelling with her in her car she asked if liked Indian fusion music. she was explaining something about it...the next day she brings Taufique Qureshi's 'Rhydhun'.she bought it for me. un-imaginable.
those days she would ask me about partho a lot. who, what, how, when..why...and i kept working with my vague answers.
Rashmi never forgot to bring gifts for office people when returning from heimtextil. before leavin for the fair when were rehearsing the display... i have seen her crawl on the floor on her knees to get the measurements correct.

At the end of the year i left rashmi. a small misunderstanding via the administration of the company.but Rashmi's humility was such that after she realised the mistake she called me back personally, though i refused the full time offer and worked only as a free lancer.

Rashmi doesnt forget anyone. till date i know i can call her anytime when im in delhi and she would have endless stories to talk about and countless questions about my life. i and Monit still smile to the memories of those days but swear never to work with her again


Some of our designs are still here
http://www.linenscapes.com/