Get to know Shahdab Mir, Director of Kani Home Store, Dubai.
I am given to introspection and I constantly reflect on how I can be better. I am evolving. It's a work in progress.
Had there been no insurgency in the Kashmir Valley, I may never have come to Dubai. In 1989, the unrest in the Valley reached a flashpoint. It was also the year my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. He died the next year. In a way he was lucky he didn't see the violence that destroyed Kashmir.
At the time, we children were very happy as schools were shut down. We didn't realise that the violence was crippling our business and affecting our livelihood.
Finally my parents decided it was better if we continued our education outside Kashmir. I went to a boarding school in Dehradun, while Ishfaq was packed off to Delhi. I think boarding school was the best thing to have happened to me. I never felt homesick and learnt a lot from my two years there.
I moved to Delhi to continue my schooling and stayed with Ishfaq. That is where I really abused my freedom.
I was out of control! I was repeatedly suspended, and eventually trying a different tactic to discipline me, I was made prefect.
In college, I dabbled a bit in student politics. After graduation, I was given two choices: I could study after my family sold off some part of the business or I could join the business and help the family.
I chose to postpone my plans and chip in to help my family. However, I still haven't given up hope. I plan to continue my education through distance learning.
I am interested in Sufism.
I meditate a lot, and often get better insights into myself through meditation. We also have an informal non-profit society in Kashmir comprising a group of people who have done well working outside the Valley. We volunteer to counsel youngsters in Kashmiri villages whenever we visit. The purpose is to raise awareness of career options. It's not much, but we try to do our bit.
Love and loss
The first time a friend took me to see Dubai Marina I was impressed. I met the people who were setting up Ibn Battuta Mall. I liked the place and leased space for Kani Home. In 2004 I moved to Dubai, just before the fit-out of the store.
I was 26 when I married my high school sweetheart. We dated for nine years despite her parents' opposition, since we were from different cultures.
My parents had no problems at all. We married as soon as an opportunity presented itself and flew to Dubai to start our new life.
We worked very hard to set up our business, but it took its toll on our relationship, and we divorced. I treat this as an experience from which I learned. I now know how to decode what women say and what they mean. When I was married, we were both unwilling to make adjustments.
My memories of Kashmir.
I was born in Srinagar, the youngest of three children. My paternal grandfather stayed with us. Some of my best childhood memories are of the evening walks along Srinagar's Boulevard with my grandfather.
As we strolled we saw some of Srinagar's most beautiful sights – the Dal Lake and the mountains in the distance.
I also remember how my sister Asia and I usually ganged up against Ishfaq, our eldest brother. Asia died at 23 of a brain haemorrhage; her death has been the lowest point of my life so far.
Today, Ishfaq makes disaster management software for the government of India.
In the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, thousands died in the days after the earthquake because there was no disaster management plan in place. Recognising the need for effective disaster management technology and software, he is working to put a plan in place.
My grandfather supplied Kashmiri crewel (a worsted yarn for embroidery and edging) pieces to famous international stores like Harrods of London.
Carpets and tradition
My store is named after Kanihama village, 15 km from Srinagar, the traditional home of the kani shawl. Kani shawls came to Kashmir from central Asia, and were so prized for their beauty that they were even offered as ransom or taxes to the Mughal emperors.
Child labour and Kashmiri carpets.
If you ask me, the child labour issue is only being seen from a Western liberal perspective. When somebody comes into my store and asks me if my carpets are made by children, I say yes. But that's not child labour.
Our factory, Indo-Kashmir Carpets, works like a co-operative society. All workers work for themselves, not for us. We provide them with the designs, loom and raw materials. They weave the carpets at home after they finish work in the fields as farmers.
The beauty of Kashmiri carpets is that weavers don't refer to a graph. We work on a Kashmiri script and hand it over to the weavers. The head of the family sings these instructions to the family as a song. Then the carpets are woven by the whole family as they sit together in the evenings, singing and talking to each other as they weave.
Weaving carpets with their family is one of the favourite times of the day for the children. Children aren't exploited in the making of these carpets and they aren't forced to do it at the expense of their education.
– As told to Shalaka Paradkar, a Dubai-based freelance writer
Snapshot
My grandfather, Jamal, the businessman: Once my dad and I went to the famous handicraft store Subhana The Worst (yes, stores in Srinagar have some strange names; this one was also called Subhana The Best previously). The old owner was sitting in the corner of the store. He called out to me and we started talking.
He asked which family I belonged to, and when I told him, he asked, "Do you know why your grandfather had such a formidable reputation?" He told me that my grandfather was so successful because he knew and practised what the world's best business schools teach today.
He never compromised on quality. Many people used to supply Harrods with namdas (multicoloured rugs made of half cotton and half wool).
Generally, they would reduce the wool percentage as it was expensive. But in the random quality checks, my grandfather's
namdas passed with flying colours. They always had 55 per cent wool. Eventually, Harrods were so impressed that they even named the namda counter Jamal in honour of my grandfather.
Throughout my childhood, I saw tourists come to meet my grandfather for his expertise in crewel products. I remember having foreign guests dine with us almost every weekend in the summer. We would wait eagerly for those who would bring us gifts.
