I know why they call him Ustaad

We often hear of people who have lost their jobs and livelihoods to technology. Typewriters, pagers, fax machines and so many more objects — and skillsets — they entailed, have disappeared in front of our eyes. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, I’m guessing that this rate of obsolescence will increase substantially. I often wonder what will happen to all that lost human capital, and remind myself of the story of Shamsheer Ustaad — the man who refused to become collateral damage when his industry modernised. 

Shamsheer Ali used to be one of the finest naqsha (carpet design) makers in Mirzapur-Bhadohi’s