Intekhab Ahmad - Personal Story

A Shawl of My Grandfather

Belonging to the fourth generation of the Rafoogars community and Pashmina shawl embroiderers of Najibabad, Intekhab Ahmad uses his skill in restoring his grandfather’s shawl. As a young boy at the age of 6, Intekhab started learning the craft of Rafooagari as an apprentice under an Ustadad. Looking back, he recalls his grandfather wearing the moon pashmina shawl with makhi butis that he bought in the year 1965.

However, as winter came to an end, his grandfather kept the shawl in a box and unconsciously forgot about its existence. The shawl remained in the box for years, forgotten, until one day in 1982, when the box was randomly opened. The shawl had lost its strength and was in a very tattered state until Intekhab decided to rafoo it. The process of rafooogari on the shawl took about six years, and with every needle that passed through the warp and the weft of the shawl, Intekhab’s memories of his grandfather were evoked.