Our Trip to Coimbatore

     We got up early to go to Coimbatore with three other people: Hasina, Nida, and Babu.  We drove for five hours, during which we were quite cramped and uncomfortable.  We visited the house of Hasina’s nephew, who owned garment factories.  We went up the stairs of his house, to see the clothes catalog containing the pictures of clothes that were to be exported to stores in the United States and Europe.  Upstairs we also saw a fish.  It was huge, gold colored, and it moved in crazy jerks and glides, all over its tank.  It was an Arowana.

       We went to three factories that day.  The first factory we went to had twenty machines in one room, ten to each side, with an isle in between.  One side was embroidering ten, black and yellow New York T-shirts.  The other side was starting a complicated, gold embroidery pattern on a white T-shirt.  At the end of each of the rows of machines, there was a computer.  The computer counted the number of stitches, and stopped when one of the machines made a mistake.  When a machine made a mistake, all the other machines halted, waiting for the mistake to be resolved by the machine or by one of the workers.  Most of the time, though, the machine would automatically fix itself and then resume work with all the others.  All of the machines did everything in perfect unison.  The machines were moving so fast, you couldn’t see them, but you could see the designs growing. 

     We left that room and went to another, where two people were working with a fusing machine.  They straitened out two huge pieces of cloth as they entered the machine. At the end, the cloth was fused together to form one piece.  Next to the fusing machine was a person with an extremely sharp razor, cutting out the logo for one of the New York T-shirts.  

We left the factory, and went to another.  This one was a huge workroom where some of the people were taking the embroidered cloth and assembling clothes. Then, some of the clothes were stamped and approved, while others were put in a stack to be taken apart and redone.  The approved clothes were put on hangers, ironed, and then folded into boxes, ready to be shipped.  We were generously given some approved clothing from the pile.  It was near the end of the day, so we headed home quickly, so we could get some sleep.  It was a very educational trip, and we all enjoyed it.

Isabel