Meraj Zari Arts

If you go to 1458 A/13 Kalkaji Govind Puri, that’s where Meraj Zari Arts is. It’s a busy little spot where there’s always thread and fabric lying around. The light in here is bright because we need to see the tiny stitches we’re making. It’s a lot of hand work, and your eyes get tired after a few hours, so we take breaks to walk around the block in Govind Puri. We don’t have a big sign or anything, just the address on the door. Inside, it’s mostly just us sitting on the floor or at low tables, working the needles. The gold thread, the zari, is everywhere—little bits of it get stuck to your clothes and you find them later at home. It’s a quiet kind of work, mostly just the sound of the needles passing through the cloth and maybe a radio playing softly in the corner. We don’t talk much when we’re in the middle of a pattern. It’s just about getting the lines straight and the beads in the right place. Sometimes the room gets a bit stuffy, so we prop the door open with a brick. It’s not a fancy studio, just a place in Kalkaji where we do our work. People come by to drop off materials and we show them what we’ve finished. It’s a simple routine.