The Rugman

Born and raised in Srinagar Kashmir (north Indian Himalayan State).
I still remember the day when I completed my college and my father asked about my future plans.
Rugs & weaving was my family business so I definitely was attracted to the subject.
Learning basics of rugs and weaving from my family source, I read a variety of literature about the difference between workshop rugs and family or tribal rugs. Reading about the nomads of Central Asia and their weaving really fascinated me and helped me to choose the subject as my vocation.

One evening in June 1987 I was having dinner with my parents and I tried to overcome their thoughts. I knew the thing which I was going to ask them would immediately be refused as it was almost impossible for them to allow me travel to Afghanistan to experience Nomadic life there.
The reason for their refusal was that there was a fierce war between Afghans and Russian occupied forces. Like a child is stopped from doing some harmful acts and it tries to do it again and again, my situation was the same. My passion and excitement was intensifying and forcing me to leave my land and travel to the war torn Lands of Afghan Nomads.

My luck was in favor as I had a beloved uncle already living in Pakistan and dealing in these Rugs, who finally helped me to convince my parents to allow me to travel to Pakistan and , with his help, to Afghanistan.
So the day came - 10th of October 1987 - I left Kashmir for the first time and reached Pakistan and my uncle. I joined him to learn and understand the basics of tribal rugs and designs, but my basic aspiration was to see the nomads and experience their life style, way of daily life and their weaving techniques. It took me about six months to make my uncle ready to arrange a trip for me to Afghanistan.
On March 23 1988 my dream achieved its reality when I left. My dearest uncle along with two of my uncles arranged Escorts and started traveling towards north-west Pakistan which led me to the lands of an Afghan Bloch Taimuri family. I really cannot express the excitement and thrill I had when I crossed the world famous Khyber Pass and entered into the territory of Afghanistan.

Though I had some serious and narrow escapes during my travels ( but who cares for life at that age) - honestly at many times I realized why my parents didn't want me to travel to this part of the world.
I kept on traveling back and forth for two constant years and gained enough knowledge about six famous and most popular tribes of those areas.

• Turkmans

  Origin Turkmenistan

• Kazakhs

  Origin Kazakhstan

• Uzbek

  Origin Uzbekistan

• Bloch

  Origin Afghanistan & Iran

• Ghazni

  Origin Afghanistan

• Shirvan

  Origin Caucasus (Armenia & Azerbaijan)

I got really fascinated by their designs, symbols and endless patterns. It opened a new chapter in my study about these people and their works of art. With no doubt, I consider them the best designers in this world. Being uneducated & illiterate they can create any kind of design for their rug which was unbelievable for me. While working on a rug I saw how they observe and create images in their vast memory and convert their imagination into amazing rugs. After finishing my basic study about these wonderful people, I remained with my uncle for a couple of years and in 1999 I had a chance to visit Qatar to open a new branch for our company. It was a great exposure and gateway to sharing my knowledge of the subject in the world of Aesthetics.