Suzanna

Kinni, a tabby cat was born far far away. She was born in Uttaranchal. And because, she was born in a freezing little hamlet, her mother thought it wise she send her away to a more tropical place. You see, Kinni used to sneeze every morning, non-stop. So Kinni’s grand-mother’s sister’s husband’s second cousin said he knew someone somewhere.
So Kinni was taken down from the hills. She was tied to the warm belly of a goat for the first leg of the journey. Then a donkey agreed to carry her with its bundle of warm woolen clothes, and soon poor, tired Kinni was in the capital of India.
“Dilli, I’m here”, mewed Kinni when she first saw the city.
Barely had the last mew left her than she saw a rat standing with a placard that read “Kinni”.
Kinni waved out to the rat. The rat, a Mr Ratinder, was well-acquainted with the Indian Railway authorities, and had pulled many a string (most of them moustaches) to get Kinni on board to her final destination.
Most of the way, Kinni spent in the laps of various travellers. Because, unlike Mr Ratinder, Kinni was young and beautiful and therefore, loved by all. Because of the oodles of time she spent on laps, Kinni learnt a lot about the fabrics. She knew the difference between silk and cotton; and linen and polyester. She even knew the difference between different prints, like kalamkari and candy-stripes. And so Kinni learnt and traveled, and drank tea from earthen cups in the mornings, and milk from plastic cups at night.
After many many days, an older and wiser Kinni stepped off the train (bid adieu to a teary-eyed Ratinder) and met Catina, the posh relative who lived in this city. Kinni mewed the first few days, for she missed home a lot. Catina got tired of it, and one day took Kinni along with her to work. Kinni was delighted to find that Catina worked in a very fashionable place that dealt with fabrics of all kinds.
“Wheeeee”, mewed Kinni, who plunged straight into all the fabrics and did an inventory of everything the store had. The manager was impressed to bits, and asked Catina to get Kinni along everyday.
Catina and Kinni soon became a team. A very formidable fashion team that traveled to Fashion Weeks in all fashion capitals of the world. Delhi, Paris, Milan, Rome, Hong Kong.
And much later, in an interview, Kinni (now with her own label ‘K’) said, “And to think it all started in an upholstery store in Bangalore.”



(Poster at Soul Seasons, the upholstery store)