This 43-yr-old Nagpada shop is the favourite of a majority of the men in khakhi to get their uniforms stitched A force of around 44,000 policemen guards our city,and over the past 43 years one shop in Nagpada has become a household name for a majority of these men in khaki. From several former director generals of police and police commissioners to constables and junior officers,Ramesh & Sons Gents Tailors are responsible for stitching together the smart uniforms on their backs. Located beside St Anthony Girls High School and Alexander Cinema,the shop was established in 1966 by Ramesh Chintal and has since churned out countless number of uniforms for policemen from all parts of the state. My father set up this shop,and after he passed away my brother and I have been running it. I myself have been working here since I was in the seventh standard,and many policemen have become our close friends over the years. We have made uniforms for former police commissioners like MN Singh,Ronnie Mendonca and Julio Ribeiro,and also former director general of police AN Roy. We have also made uniforms for Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor and Arthur Road Jail superintendent Swatee Sathe, says Subhash Chintal,45. We have also tailored a police sub-inspectors uniform that is to be worn by Abhishek Bachchan for a mobile phone service advertisement, he adds with glee. According to Chintal,when the shop was initially set up,it did not specialise in tailoring uniforms. However,since it was a stones throw away from Nagpada police station,a policeman from the station got his uniform tailored from the shop. This was just the start,and we became a popular name amongst policemen through word of mouth. Several other officers from Nagpada police station started calling us to the police station to take their fittings,and pretty soon we started getting calls from other police stations. We have seen the Mumbai Police constables uniform change from shorts to trousers while in the business, Chintal recalls. Today,the shop churns out an average of 75 to 80 police uniforms each week. Such is the popularity of the shop that policemen from Nashik,Nagpur,Kolhapur and Aurangabad also get their uniforms stitched from the shop. We have procured imported stitching machines,and are in a position to deliver a uniform within four hours. These policemen from far-off places come to us in the morning,and we hand over their uniforms by evening, says Chintal. Ramesh & Sons are also experts in tailoring uniforms for Regional Transport Office (RTO) officials and Excise officials. We make uniforms for 99 per cent of RTO officials in the state. Officials from the department handling liquor sales in Excise also get their uniforms made by us, Chintal says.
