FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD Vishwanauth “Vishnu” Babulall felt terrible when he realised he had to drop out of school because of constraints his family faced in the 1970s. The politics in Guyana then had made life very difficult for this poor family of seven. Vishwanauth, called ‘Vish,’ and his four siblings all fell short of achieving a basic education because transportation to and from school was difficult to obtain. The family just couldn’t afford the price, so the children remained at home and helped with planting rice, rearing fowls, gardening, and so forth.
And so Vish left school at the approximate age of 14, with no life skills, so to speak; he had to content himself with helping out the family around the house. When he turned 16, though, he wisely acknowledged that he couldn’t secure academic education, and told himself that he had to learn a trade to get by.
“I am a school drop-out. Tailoring wasn’t my first choice; I wanted to be a police and work with the CID (Criminal Investigation Department); but they (The Police Force) said I was too young when I wrote the application. So I took up tailoring, and I (am) left with it. By chance I fell into tailoring, but this is what I learned; this is my trade,” Vish told the Chronicle in an interview at his tailor shop.
A cousin of his was friendly with a tailor named Ayube Ali, who lived at Reliance on the Essequibo Coast. Ali could only sew pants, though, but he passed on his knowledge to the young Vish. Now 44 years old, Vish can do more than sew only a pair of pants. He used his knowledge of tailoring to develop himself and improve his skills.
“I started with pants; hemming, pressing and so forth. My cousin’s friend taught me to do pants only. In fact, that is all he did for work. But I eventually branched off and started to do dresses, jackets, suits and so. I branched off and developed on my own. In four months, I learned to sew pants.”
He went to Georgetown in 1997 and worked with a tailor; and then, in 2008, he opened his own business at Third Street, Alexander Village. Today, he is a reputable tailor who does ladies and gents’ clothing at his very own tailor shop, now located at Lot 6 Smyth Street, Werk-en-Rust Georgetown.
Hard Days
Vish was born at Phoenix Village on Leguan Island in the Essequibo River, but grew up in two villages, Annandale and Reliance, both on the Essequibo Coast. His parents are Chandra and Jim (the latter now deceased).
He attended Abram Zuil Nursery, Queenstown Primary, and Cotton Field Secondary (formerly known as Anna Regina Community High). Circumstances forced him to drop out of school when he was about 14 years old. “I know I didn’t get a proper education, so I told myself I had to learn a trade. I dropped out in 13-14 years and had two years’ span of doing nothing.
“It was hard days, politically wise. Those were the days when transportation was hard to get. My father got retrenched, was five of us children in the home, mom didn’t work.
“Transportation was a real problem. At times you are (caught) late in the night at the park, waiting for a bus to go home from school. So it didn’t make sense to go (to school). My other siblings had to drop out, too. I did well in primary school though, so I felt terrible when I had to come off school. I was forced to quit school to help the family, but me and my siblings all turned out ok,” Vish related.
Assisting Others
Life may not be the best or easiest for Vish at present, but it is definitely better than what had obtained in his younger days.
“(There’s) nothing like when you put your mind to something. I knew my family background was not all of that, financially. Instead of going to smoke (and) drink, I told myself I needed to do a trade. Life is not the best in the world, but at least you have a (satisfying) meal and comfortable sleep,” he said.
Although Vish could not complete his education, he used the resources he acquired over the years to help others attain theirs. “At least I could have helped a lot of family members — nieces and nephews — to go to school; something I didn’t get I assisted others to get.”
Vish describes himself as a cool guy who tries his best to listen to people. “I deal with customers on the phone a lot. First thing they say is (that) I sound like a nice person on the phone. I try my best to be reliable, but no matter how hard you try, sometimes you fall back because of the challenges involved, like hard-to-get materials and power outages.
“Almost all of the tailors today don’t use peddle machines anymore, but (being) prompt makes a good tailor; being able to deliver on time.”
Vish has progressed to the point where he does work for the prime minister and other prominent individuals in society. “I don’t get complaints, I get corrections. I don’t have people threatening not to come back or so,” he said.
Vish recently got married to Geeta, a teacher by profession. His tailor shop can be reached on telephone number 226-6211.
By Telesha Vidya Ramnarine
