When and where did the Shyam Ahuja dhurrie begin?
In 1969, exactly 30 years ago. It was very accidental. I was a wool buyer for Chattersfield in New York. Before that I used to work for my father. The day Kennedy was assassinated I struck out on my own. The designs in those days were the traditional Indo-Persian stuff and it was getting very boring. I was looking for a break. It is tough there. You can never get an appointment to meet anyone. Everyone is too busy. So what did you do? Frankly, Mr Nandy, I still don’t get an appointment to see anyone. I always gatecrash. Everyone abroad is very busy and today with all this voice mail stuff, it has become almost impossible. So much so that even when it comes to airline bookings or to reconfirm a flight you cannot get across to anyone. Press 1 or press 2 or press 56, one never gets to speak to a real person. So I have mastered the subtle art of gatecrashing. Where did you gatecrash? Everywhere I went I was abused and thrown out. They told me how Indians are unreliable, how their quality i
