Vadodara tailor Chaitanya Manek makes 400 masks daily

GNN | Mar 30, 2020, 2:36 PM IST|

• Distributes these masks free to needy people
• Learnt the art of mask making from online research

Gujarat News Network

Vadodara, March 30, 2020. Chaitanya Manek, a Vadodara based tailor has come up with a unique idea of using school uniform material to make face masks.

“Ahead of the new academic calendar, Manek stocks up on cotton material for school uniforms,” reports Tushar Tere for TNN. “This year too he did the same, but the coronavirus pandemic decided to play spoilsport and schools and colleges closed down jeopardising his business plans.”

40-years-old Manek who is Matric pass (old SSC) earns Rs20,000 a month from his tailoring business at his shop in Sama area of eastern Vadodara. He thought of putting the stock of school uniform material to good use — make face masks even as an acute scarcity of face masks swept Vadodara. Chaitanya today makes 400 masks every day.

A man with a large heart, Chaitanya did not think of the losses he would incur but rising to the occasion has distributed these masks for free to the needy. So Chaitanya in his own unique way is also helping fight the spread of the deadly virus in his own way.

Chaitanya told Tushar, “Ahead of the new academic year, I always buy cotton cloth in bulk so that I can make school uniforms and deliver them in time. When the coronavirus scare started spreading some weeks ago, I thought it would subside soon. We began making uniforms. But about a week ago, I realised that the threat is real and closer home.”

Chaitanya decided to take the plunge into mask making when he learnt enough masks were not available in the market. “That is when I decided to contribute from my side.”

Manek learnt how to make masks by doing some Google research. “I began making cotton face masks of specific shape and size and also trained all the six workers in my unit how to sew them perfectly on machines.”