By : Rishika Sharma
Buttons. They may seem insignificant to you. After all, aren’t these just plastic bits with a couple of holes for stitching up in your clothes? Ask Jitendar Koundal and he will vehemently protest. He is a button collector, one who passionately accumulates buttons as a hobby. For him buttons are tiny little fragments of joy that mean the world to him.
Jitendar is the typical middle-aged businessman you find in the sleepy towns of the Indian Himalayas, sitting in his shop with a welcoming smile to his customers. He does not look like someone who would venture on a road less travelled in India, that too for collecting buttons of all things collectible. However, the moment you ask him about his collection you can spot a sparkle in the eyes of this 47 year old from the hill station of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. It switches his five foot frame to a different level of almost child-like energy as he tells the story of how it all started.
Buttons were not necessarily a natural attraction for Jitendar in his childhood. He was a tailor’s son and buttons were all around him and never held much significance. “My father was a tailor in Dharamshala and at times it was difficult to get the right buttons for fitting on coats,” he recalled. But in a small town like Dharamshala buying buttons were not something to seriously ponder over and far from a hobby or business venture thought.
So buttons never caught his imagination until a day some twenty years ago when Jitendar came across an article on a local daily Punjab Kesari. The article was about a US entrepreneur who had gone on to establishing a 500-crore rupee business from collecting buttons. So moved was Jitendar at this unique idea that he immediately set himself off on a tryst with buttons. "I never thought one article would change my life but I really felt good about this although in those days nobody cared much about buttons in Dharamshala. “But now the times have changed. People buy buttons first and then decide what dress would go along with them. It is becoming a fashion instrument now," Jitendar says with a smile.
For the beginners whose knowledge about buttons may be limited to their belly buttons, Jitendar’s collection is a sheer celebration of diversity. “There are different kinds of buttons here based on the material they are made of. I have wooden buttons, pearl buttons, thread buttons, crafted buttons, mother shell buttons, bone buttons and many other categories in my collection,” says Jitendar with a hint of pride. “They are from different countries. For instance, this one is from Japan,” he gushes while showing off an exotic looking button. His collection has buttons from Bhutan, Nepal and other countries of the region also.
So how does one keep track of the sheer variety in buttons? In popular hobbies like stamp collection and coin collections there are official catalogues which tell the collectors about what to look for and what not to but in the case of buttons things are not so straightforward. “It could actually be a little bewildering for a beginner as to which buttons to collect,” says Jitendar.
When he first started buying buttons he went to the big markets of Maharashtra and Delhi. He was dazzled and puzzled with the diversity and choices. However, gradually with the help of other businessmen and shopkeepers and with experience he gathered comprehensive knowledge on what to buy, how to buy and the many different sources to look for.
When Jitendar decided to explore deeper into this risky unknown business path, money turned out to be a major obstacle. Undaunted, he borrowed a loan of Rs. 5000 from UCO Bank to make a start. Today, nearly two decades later, he has a network for collecting and ordering buttons of different countries and he himself travels frequently to different parts of India to enrich his collection and to search for new additions.
A hobby by chance has turned out to be successful business for Jitendar but interestingly enough he couldn’t care less about the money it brings. After all, these are the ‘tiny little fragments of joy that mean the world to him’.
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| Jitendar Koundal, in his shop with his collection of buttons at Dharamshala. |
Jitendar is the typical middle-aged businessman you find in the sleepy towns of the Indian Himalayas, sitting in his shop with a welcoming smile to his customers. He does not look like someone who would venture on a road less travelled in India, that too for collecting buttons of all things collectible. However, the moment you ask him about his collection you can spot a sparkle in the eyes of this 47 year old from the hill station of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. It switches his five foot frame to a different level of almost child-like energy as he tells the story of how it all started.
Buttons were not necessarily a natural attraction for Jitendar in his childhood. He was a tailor’s son and buttons were all around him and never held much significance. “My father was a tailor in Dharamshala and at times it was difficult to get the right buttons for fitting on coats,” he recalled. But in a small town like Dharamshala buying buttons were not something to seriously ponder over and far from a hobby or business venture thought.
So buttons never caught his imagination until a day some twenty years ago when Jitendar came across an article on a local daily Punjab Kesari. The article was about a US entrepreneur who had gone on to establishing a 500-crore rupee business from collecting buttons. So moved was Jitendar at this unique idea that he immediately set himself off on a tryst with buttons. "I never thought one article would change my life but I really felt good about this although in those days nobody cared much about buttons in Dharamshala. “But now the times have changed. People buy buttons first and then decide what dress would go along with them. It is becoming a fashion instrument now," Jitendar says with a smile.
For the beginners whose knowledge about buttons may be limited to their belly buttons, Jitendar’s collection is a sheer celebration of diversity. “There are different kinds of buttons here based on the material they are made of. I have wooden buttons, pearl buttons, thread buttons, crafted buttons, mother shell buttons, bone buttons and many other categories in my collection,” says Jitendar with a hint of pride. “They are from different countries. For instance, this one is from Japan,” he gushes while showing off an exotic looking button. His collection has buttons from Bhutan, Nepal and other countries of the region also.
So how does one keep track of the sheer variety in buttons? In popular hobbies like stamp collection and coin collections there are official catalogues which tell the collectors about what to look for and what not to but in the case of buttons things are not so straightforward. “It could actually be a little bewildering for a beginner as to which buttons to collect,” says Jitendar.
When he first started buying buttons he went to the big markets of Maharashtra and Delhi. He was dazzled and puzzled with the diversity and choices. However, gradually with the help of other businessmen and shopkeepers and with experience he gathered comprehensive knowledge on what to buy, how to buy and the many different sources to look for.
When Jitendar decided to explore deeper into this risky unknown business path, money turned out to be a major obstacle. Undaunted, he borrowed a loan of Rs. 5000 from UCO Bank to make a start. Today, nearly two decades later, he has a network for collecting and ordering buttons of different countries and he himself travels frequently to different parts of India to enrich his collection and to search for new additions.
A hobby by chance has turned out to be successful business for Jitendar but interestingly enough he couldn’t care less about the money it brings. After all, these are the ‘tiny little fragments of joy that mean the world to him’.
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