Turban Tales
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Avantilal Chawla can hold his head high with pride as he has spun his way into the Limca Book of Records, reports MILIND GHATWAI

If Avantilal Chawla were to wear one of his crowns not only his head but also his entire body would lie uneasy. For he makes turbans as weighty as 6.6 kg, made out of 51-metre cloth and with eight-feet diameters. Luckily, his turbans are not meant for human beings. He made it to order for a huge Ganapati idol installed during Ganeshotsava.

The sheer size has earned the 55-year-old turban maker from Vadodara an entry into the Limca Book of Records but will find its way only in the 2001 edition. Chawla, a teacher in the Performing Arts Faculty of M. S. University, has an unusual hob-by: he makes turbans for both human beings and idols and has a collection of over 100 of them of various shapes and sizes. He has made many more for others.

Chawla has developed the art of turban making into a fine art. Now whoever thinks of turban, either for idols or for marriage ceremonies, approaches this craftsman who does not charge a rupee for the service.

A mime artiste — there are only two others in India besides him who are university teachers and professional artistes — his unusual hobby began by a sheer accident in 1988 when he was chosen to represent Gujarat at a workshop organised by West Zone Cultural Centre on ‘Pagg, Pagdi and Safa’ in Udaipur. At 43, he was considered too young by some of the older participants who taunted him by asking whether he ever wore one.

‘‘Challenges spur me on,’’ states Chawla, on what marked his association with the traditional Indian headgear. He not only won appreciation from them later but returned home with a load on his head — to preserve this tradition when the younger generation seemed least interested in preserving the past. The very next year he bagged a short-term project from the University Grants Commission for conducting research on the headgear of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad’s times. Says he: ‘‘I chose Sayajirao Gaekwad III’s period as a symbolic repayment for what the visionary king did for the region.’’ He says about 400 varieties of pagdis were worn during the Gaekwad regime alone.

He served as a waterman at the Vadodara Railway Station and did sundry jobs on daily wages for six years to earn his fees. He studied in MSU during daytime and laboured at night, all because he had lied to his parents who were dead against his pursuing a career in dramatics. ‘‘I learnt what life is there and during dramatics classes its presentation on the stage,’’ he recalls of his days that made him strong-minded and god fearing.

Chawla traces the history of turbans to 3,000 years ago. The headgear went through many modifications in style and design and was an eloquent commentary on the social, economic and religious aspects, he says. Not for nothing that the headwear has enriched many Indian languages with idioms and phrases. Modern day sayings such as sar salamat to pagdi pachas (if the head is safe, you can change 50 pagdis) and pagdi bechake ghee khana (savour the riches but don’t place your honour on the line) are essentially different from the yore when the headgear symbolised status and dignity.

Wars have been fought over pagdi in the past. When the hosts welcomed guests without wearing a headgear it was taken as affront, men could not enter janankhanas without wearing a pagri, and queens committed sati with the king’s pagdi if he was killed in a war. Chawla talks of the importance of the pagdi. It was incumbent on an able king to protect weak kings or individuals who offered their pagdis to him. Also, an exchange of pagdi was a symbol of brotherhood. He learnt most of the history while working on the UGC project.

‘‘I never thought I would enter record books. But turbans are a vitamin for me. I will continue to make them till I last,’’ he says proudly. ‘‘We never took him seriously. We were apprehensive when he began,’’ says his wife Pravinaben, a school teacher. ‘‘He used to struggle for days in the beginning. Now he makes them in jiffy,’’ she says.

A look at a pagdi in old photographs is enough for Chawla to recreate the old magic by replicating it. He has handled so many turbans in the last 12 years that ‘‘I can tell much from a distance about its origin and the wearer himself’’.

He has made about half-a-dozen huge turbans, all on orders from the same organiser of Ganeshotsava. But most of his collection of turbans belong to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. ‘‘I want to make 11 each from the other states so that I can have a symbolic India in my house,’’ he says admitting finding a sponsor will not be easy. ‘‘I can even make a turban having a diameter of 21 metres,’’ he says. He thinks if he could do that the Guinness Book of World Records may not be far away. He can surely hold his head high with pride.

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