After his first-ever prêt showcasing in India, renowned couturier n designer Indo-German Hemant Sagar shares a very personal story of his memories of India. After winning the Golden Thimble & Designer of the Year 2007 awards India's international designer plays out an ode to the city of Bombay –as he returns in a full circle.

Bonjour Bombay

India was a ten year old country when I was born into a strangely constituted multicultural family. My father had come to India on a train out of Lyallpur, Pakistan, living in refugee camp under Hardinge Bridge on the frontier of Old and New Delhi for nearly a year he then went to complete his law studies in England. This time he was traveling back to India by public transportation in the first half of the fifties,
with a beautiful wife and a small suitcase, filled with hopes and ambitions.

He had met my mother at a student camp in Yorkshire where she had come to work for a summer from post-war Berlin. One of my first memories are pictures of me is sitting on my mothers Usha sewing machine. I was watching her sew my nappies. Pampers as Generation X knows them did not exist at that time. It was a very secluded time for both of us; she would rarely go even to the grocery as her skin color would drive up the prices. So this sanctuary I grew up in became the courtyard of dreams: untouched by the bustling streets of Karol Bagh, which dad referred to as 'Carol Gardens' to make it sound more acceptable to us.

Intuitively, I had become dexterous with both cultures and would speak English with my parents' friends, especially with my mom's nylon stockinged lady friends and then revert to speaking in Hindi with the Bihari sweeper. These differences were thrust into my life and all had different codes of behavior attached. Little did I realize that all the fine differences of certain elements co-existing in my life, would help me to one day become not only fluent in various languages but lead to actually having three different sets of lives: in India, In France and in Germany.