Yakshagana artiste returns to tailoring, stitches PPEs

Deepthi Sanjiv | TNN | Apr 25, 2020, 16:21 IST

Shankar Devadiga in character, (Right) stitching PPEs to express solidarity with health staff

MANGALURU: With the national lock-down imposing ban on mass gatherings and public performances, a 50-year-old yakshagana artiste with 35 years of stage experience has returned to tailoring and stitching personal protective equipment (PPEs) for Covid-19 warriors.
Shankar Devadiga, from Kundapur in Udupi district, is back to stitching clothes after a gap of more than three decades. This time, he has chosen to stitch PPEs in his bid to express solidarity with the frontline workers.
In the past, Shankar would assist his elder brother, Narasimha, in his tailoring business by shouldering the responsibility whenever he would get a break from his yakshagana assignments that took him around the state and also to Mumbai. Shankar told TOI: “This is my service to the health professionals risking their lives. Though stitching is not something new to me since I had assisted my brother in ear-ly years, it’s not easy to sit at one place and make a dress. Recently, I learnt that a local company was looking for tailors to make PPEs. And I decided to sign up. Several wo-men in the neighbourhood are doing the same. Dress material is cut and provided to us. We have to only stitch to specifications and return the dress to the company.”