When he joined the premier design institute, National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad on August 16, 1984, it was just becoming an institution of repute.
The NID campus looked different, faculty and students were fewer and they lived more like a family.
Now, 27 years later, faculty member Errol Pires, better known as the savior of a special technique called 'split ply-split braiding' used by the camel traders of Rajasthan, is bidding adieu to the institute as he retires from NID on December 30, 2011.
But retiring doesn't mean Pires will have spare time as he has already lined up professional engagements with educational institutes in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Jaipur.
Ask him, what is his plan post retirement and he is quick to say that he wants to preserve the collection of products - belts, purses, bags, dresses, pots and others - made by split ply-split braiding technique.
"The plan is to come up with a museum to preserve the technique and the numerous products I have made so far. I plan to buy a chunk of land near Nalsarovar and come up with the world's first museum of camel belt braiding with the help of eminent architects, and the Gujarat and Rajasthan government," he said while talking to DNA.
Ask him how he has seen NID change during his association and there comes a complaint.
"If you see the last convocation, faculty members sitting on the stage hardly clapped for students who were receiving degrees. With time, the bond between the faculty and students has weakened. Earlier, we worked like a family. Now it seems it is an institute of individuals," he said.
