Favourite tailor of Biju Babu

Subhas Padhi came from Hinjilikatu in the Ganjam district to Bhubaneswar to eke out a living, and started working at the “Up to Date” tailoring shop in Unit -2, Market Building . He met the legendary Biju Patnaik in 1972 when the latter visited the shop to get his kurta  pajama stitched. The first question that Subhas had to answer was , “do you know how to stitch a round neck kurta and the Berhmapuri peta muna genji ( a typical vest)?” After being assured by Subhas,  a long standing  bond was born between a common tailor and the legendary Biju Patnaik.

The Kurta measurement of Biju babu was : Length- 67″ , Chest 56″ -64″( depended on how loose he wanted) Shoulder- 27″, Wrist-14″ Hand length- 38.5″, Neck- 22″ . From 1972 till 1996 Subhas became the favourite tailor and stitched almost more than 600 pairs of kurta pajamas for him . All kurtas were white in colour with a round neck. Subhas adds, ” If there would be any mistake then he would get very angry but he was the kindest man that I have ever met.” Subhas now lives in Bhimatangi , in Old town Bhubaneswar with his wife and cherishes the memories of being the favourite tailor of a great personality .

Source: The Prameya