You know her as Shalini of the Paras & Shalini designer duo who sell under the label, Geisha Designs. But even loyal fans who wear her clothes probably don?t know that Shalini Jaikaria is a qualified doctor who can attach an MBBS tag to her name. She switched to fashion designing only after going through the hard grind as a medical student. How come? Quite simply, her father was in the Army and she gave in to her good middle-class parents? desire for her to be a doctor. She did her MBBS in Mumbai and then moved to the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi. She went on to do her associate diploma in fashion from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York, on a NIFT scholarship programme. While at FIT she interned with the Armani Exchange fashion house and on returning to India worked with designer Suneet Varma. In 2001, she started Geisha Designs in partnership with Paras.

Shakunt Singh, Shalini?s mother, is a housewife who has taught subjects like English and Social Studies from time to time. But being the wife of an army officer, she was constantly on the move, so she gave up her profession and concentrated on the family. Now based in Chennai with her husband, she visits her daughter in Delhi two to three times a year. The stays usually get extended and last for two or three months.

Shalini:

The relationship between a parent and a child is very interesting in that it goes through different phases. The whole transition from the mother-daughter relationship to a more equal relationship when you are almost friends, is a study in itself. There was a time when my mother was extremely nagging. Be it about my hair or my clothes, she wanted me to be perfect. For instance, she?d match her clothes with her shoes and bag. But I was more into casual things, whereas she was always particular about details such as food, exercise and how I appeared on an occasion. So there was this phase when there was much fighting, arguing and relenting.

She still tries to make sure that I?m eating properly and am looking after myself. That?s her way of caring. We sit and eat breakfast and lunch together nowadays. On weekends, I accompany her on visits to our relatives and go for an occasional film together. Not that I can claim to be the perfect daughter.

There is this desire now of not trying to distress each other. In fact, I have discovered something about myself that astonishes me. During my childhood years, my mother was deeply into yoga and meditation. At that point, when she tried to get me to do the same, I did not pay heed. However, after this year?s fashion week got over, I took her to the Ananda resort in Rishikesh. We sat in the gardens and meditated. It was a peaceful moment and I could identify with her. It was a rare moment of understanding.

There is this touching incident that I remember from my early days. I wanted to join an art school but my parents wanted me to be the conventional daughter aspiring for a conventional profession. I eventually studied medicine for five years but my heart wasn?t in it. My father was totally against my taking up designing as a career. That was the time when my mother lent me quiet support. While I was in medical college, she kept sending me magazine cuttings of garments. She even talked to my father through the nights and days till he gave way. He would tell me that he could bear my tantrums but not to see my mother cry. It seems she smoothed out the creases for me.

It never ceases to amaze me that a mother has this incredible capacity to love and give. All she does is give and all I do is just take and take. So I always think that I have to experience this transition myself someday.

Shakunt:

Shalini is more ambitious and hard working than I have ever been. From childhood, she has studied herself. I?ve never had to force her to pay attention to her work. But yes, I guess I have nagged her. Even now I ask her to eat properly because she is very thin. Then she has this habit of waking up late. I tell her to get up early and go jogging or walking in the fresh air. But it?s all in vain.

If Shalini has made it big in the designing world, it?s on her own merit. The fact that she wanted to take up designing did not go down well with my husband and I, because we didn?t know anything about fashion designing. Moreover, we were not staying in Delhi at the time she wanted to study at the NIFT. There was no hostel at the institute. So we did not allow her to pursue the designing course. She fell in line and studied medicine for five-and-a-half years in Mumbai.

When we realised that she was still unhappy about not taking up designing, we let her do what she wanted. She reached Delhi and stayed with my mother while studying at NIFT. So for a long time she has not been at home with us. My memories of her go back beyond that into her childhood as such.

Shalini was very fond of animals. She had a parrot as a pet when she was in Class III. We used to keep the cage in the garden for an hour for it to be in natural surroundings. Somehow one day a cat killed it. That day she was so upset that she could not stop crying. At end of it, she developed a high temperature. Later she had an aquarium. We wanted to clean the garden pond in which we sometimes used to keep the fish. So we shifted them to a tub. Whatever be the reason, the fish kept dying. Shalini would be very upset each time and wrap them up and bury them in the garden. From then, we decided that we would not keep a pet. But we brought home a golden retriever pup for her that stayed with us for 12 long years and became a family member.

I felt very close to her when we used to stay in Delhi. Shalini was in high school at the time. My son was at the National Defence Academy (NDA) and my husband was in a field area. I would tell her everything one would normally tell one?s husband. Shalini was my only companion at that time.

When she was in the last year of medical college, the examination papers were leaked. Her friends offered her a copy for Rs 1,000. Shalini refused to do anything underhand. That?s when we were very proud of her.

Photograph by Rupinder Sharma