Flagged off

The story behind the formation of the store is as inspiring as that of the ‘Harrods’ store located at Knightsbridge in London. Says Girish,“My great grandfather Shankar Murudkar was a social activist and also participated in various social development activities along with BG Tilak. He was always working towards brining about a sort of positive change in the Pune of those times. It was but obvious that this very spirit was embodied by my grandfather Raghunath Murudkar who then set up the shop 75 years ago at this very location and also built the Wada to house the occupants and the families of those working here.”

“He began with selling items like the Irkalli Lugdi (sarees),Dharwadi Khun (blouse pieces) Dhotar Jodis,and materials and equipments that could be used for various social functions. In addition to this he also sold products like bed sheets,towels,lungis,and Uparnas (scarves) during the formative years of the store. However with the boom in local competition in the sixties and seventies,and the development of Laxmi road as becoming one of the major hotspots for shopping for wedding trousseaus,and home décor shopping my father-Balasaheb and mother-Kunda decided to venture out into a business that was unique and exclusive. They did not want to end up becoming one of those shops which sold household items that were available everywhere,instead they decided to go against the grind and start selling items exclusive to the city like,Uparnas,Phetas,flags,Pagdis and items used by political parties for campaigning.”

So intense has been the drive of the Murudkars to stand out from the rest of the crowd that they have a Research and Development wing housed within the Wada that works 24 by 7 by 365 on developing unique items for the masses. Speaking about the R and D cell Girish says,“I can say proudly and with a fair amount of surety that ours is the only store in India that has a Rand D department to look into the quality control of our products. To the credit of the department we have made some items like the folding turbans,ready made inauguration curtains that are used to inaugurate plaques and message boards,umbrellas which can be completely opened up in a matter of one minute for easy transportation,and Abdagiris (political banners) which can be opened up and folded and carried to various destinations easily.”

The store also has to its credit the honour of sending the Puneri Pheta for the wedding of Prince Charles of London,which was sponsored by the Dabbawala Association of Mumbai. About it Girish says,“It was a heady feeling to send a part of our local tradition and culture to the royal family of England. Not many people know that the Pheta was designed after taking into account and consideration the facial structure of Prince Charles. Moreover our Pheta and one more gift were the only two gifts that were accepted by Prince Charles and the Pheta is still a collector’s item that adorns his personal collection. Infact it was after the story had become official news that we were asked by the trustees of the Dagdusheth Halwai Mandal to design Phetas for the idol of Lord Ganesh,which again were widely appreciated and accepted.”

“About our future plans,we really plan to expand our current list of over 1000 items that we sell to a higher number. Moreover we hope we can devise ingenious items like easy to use and carry variations of the 25 different types of pagdis that we sell and export. As far as flags go we are looking to expand our current range of flags from various local,international,religious organisations,MNC’s and Political outfits to those of football teams,cricketing teams,logos of various clubs and so on. We plan to reintroduce the wedding trousseau lines for the brides and grooms too but with a lot of innovations. And lastly we hope to send our iconic Puneri Pagdi to every nook and corner of the world so that people the world over can relish the joy of being a part of this historic city,” he adds with a flourish.