Maa-tee

7 years ago, Aniruddha Saha, went to his ancestral home in Nabadwip, West Bengal. He was at a tea-stall, enjoying his tea, when he saw a boy, scribbling something on a paper. The boy was constantly looking up at him, hence, he got curious and went up to him. He saw that he was doodling. There was a rough sketch of Aniruddha, and a jar of biscuits in the tea stall, but they were disoriented. So Aniruddha, taught the boy, the significance of perspective and relativity of objects and the eye.

The next day, he came back, to find the boy sitting there. He taught him a few more things about art, and they drew objects that they could see nearby, like boats, people etc. Every day, for the next four days, they used to meet and draw things together. On the last day of his trip, Aniruddha wanted to meet the little boy, so he went to the tea stall. There he came to know that the boy didn’t work at the tea-stall, but at a tire shop, nearby.

So he went to the tire shop, met him and asked him not to leave drawing. The boy asked, if he could earn money through art, because he really likes it.

The man with a dream: Aniruddha Saha

This was the point where the idea first struck Aniruddha. “Back then, my wife used to head a garment brand.”

That day, he came back, and started drawing. He tried different colors. He asked his wife, Swati, to get some T-shirts for him. He tried to paint on those shirts using a brand of fabric paint. But it contained a lot of water. So he came up with the idea of coloring without water. But still, there was the issue of excess paint being absorbed by the fabric, making the paints think and flaky.

“It was Swati, who told me that there was only one t-Shirt, that came out well and that, it was because of its fabric. Swati told me, about the different fabric yarn that was used in the fabric. The most special part is the fabric. The whole process depends on it. It absorbed less of the colors, but it had a demerit. The t-shirt twirled at the bottom. Every t-shirt twirls a bit, at the bottom, but that twirled way more. Hence, it took the best tailors to make the perfect t-shirts. So we started to get our fabric specially made for the purpose. At present, we also get our fabric, washed, to retain the brightness of the colors.”

The vibrancy of the t-shirts

“My first buyer was the owner of the lodge, where I was staying, in Nabadwip. He saw me painting, and wanted to buy one, in the first batch”

“At my visit, to my ancestral place, I came to know a surprising thing! Chanchal was my next-door neighbor.” You must be wondering who is Chanchal, right? “It’s the same boy, whom I taught how to draw, of course!”

So, with some hand-made T-shirts, I came to Delhi. I went to People Tree at Connaught Place. They are amazing people! They took 30 of those t-shirts, and I came to know that, two were sold on the next day itself. But then, came the tough part. For the next month, I only sold those two T-shirts. Now, come to think of it, I think Arijit (Sen), the owner of People tree might have bought it, to boost my confidence.”
“My friends at Delhi asked me, ‘Have you heard of a brand which sells hand painted t-shirts?’ I replied in the negative. ‘Have you wondered, why?’ they asked. ‘Because, it is a hassle to manually paint those t-shirts, and it’s very hard to scale it up.’ I ignored them. I informed Chanchal, that I will be coming back.”

Maati: The Interior

“When I arrived at Nabadwip, I was surprised to see 19 people waiting for me, with Chanchal Mitra heading them. It was a really overwhelming and an emotional moment for me. There were daily wage earners, housewives; Brahmani’s who used to prepare for big community pujas (rituals). Only one of them was an artist and Rs.1500 INR, just for working for two days was unheard of.”

“That day, I left my job (Event management) and completely got into this.”

“When I came back, I saw that sales were increasing at People Tree. One day I was half asleep, when the word Maati came inside my mind. Since I was drowsy, I asked my wife, Swati, to remind me the name in the morning. She did remind me in the morning. I guess I remembered the term because I had said something to Chanchal, when I was leaving for Delhi. I had said: Maati Kamre Pore Thak( Hold on to your roots)”

The Woman

“We started from Bengal, but now we have artists from Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and the settlers at Nangloi, in Delhi. We worked on the fabric till it was perfected, hired a trained artist from Delhi and my wife quit her job, to work with me. I really needed her expertise, as she was a GMT (Garment Manufacture Technology) specialist and was a product of NIFT Mumbai”

“We finally perfected the painting technique, where the paint wasn’t thick on the t-shirts and retailed the brightness. We did it by rubbing a painted fabric on the t-shirt by the smudge technique that we have developed. One of the other techniques was the scrubber technique, which was invented accidentally, due to necessity. A lady who had a job of cleaning utensils wanted to paint with us, but could not yield a brush. So we came out with the scrubber technique of paining. The most interesting part is that, the senior artists started to use this technique.” he said, chuckling.

Chanchal Mitra with his tea stall painting on a skateboard

“At present, we have skilled Patachitra amd Docra artists from Odisha and terracotta workers from Krishnanagar, West Bengal. We just don’t make T-shirts, but handbags, cushion covers, tube tops, Ponchos, Sando Tops and Fashion Tops as well. We also have Lowers to co-ordinate the outfits. But they are plain.”

Do your Designs go out of fashion?

“We do keep the latest fashion trends in mind, but none of our artwork has gone out of fashion.”

Maati: The shop

What is the best aspect of the hand printed t-shirts?

“The gradation and intensity of color detailing cannot be produced by any other digital printing technique. We are the only brand of hand painted t-shirts, worldwide.”

What happened to Chanchal?

He is well, and he has grown to one of the major positions in the company. He is earning about Rs.25, 000 INR per month. He has also painted a design on the T-Shirt, which is the most sold t-shirt design. It is called, ‘The Woman’. Chanchal used to live in a house, which used to be the residence of the Rajah’s Mistress. There are still some paintings, which have survived, but not completely. He has used that painting, filling up the moth-eaten parts, with his imagination.

The Blue Door

He has made a Canvas, called “Tea-stall” which is up, at an embassy.

Is it the…?

“Yes, it is the same tea-stall, where we first met.”

So how the monetary requirement for training, travelling, salaries, transportation met?

“We are not funded by some NGO, so that people can take rebates from the income tax. Everything comes out of the profits earned by the products. It is a profit making institution. But we buffer talent. We create employment. What I fail to understand is, how come art has no place in the world. Some of the most talented people are working as coolies, rickshaw pullers, garage workers, MNC employees or in finance and banking, when they should be doing what they love and getting something out of their passion.

What we had not figured out before starting this, is that, we are “unknowingly creating a craft” and we would continue with our journey, happily, driven by emotions and financial needs too.”

Author’s Note: I first came across Maati, while walking through Hauz Khas village. I was captivated by the mannequin, wearing a black t-shirt with a beautiful wooden door. Its details and the serene blend of the blue hues was almost like, Van Gogh’s use of blue. The only thing that I didn’t like, was a symbol of the political party on the door. So, I went inside and asked, whether I can get one, without that sign. Aniruddha laughed and said, “They are painted live, i.e. people sit outside the real door and paint it. That door, in reality has had many signs, from BJP, Congress to Trinamool Congress. In fact, once, there was a dog sleeping on the steps of the door. The artist had painted that special limited edition of the door with the dog! We can personalize it for you.” It is now the most famous of all the t-shirts.