During the buffer week when I went back home, I managed to get a few addresses of binding firms and could interview 2 of them(Thanx to internet).
The 1st was Giriraj Binding house . It is a small firm with 5 workers. They mainly deal in various types of Pad Binding since 15-20 years . Even thought they have two machines(cutting and staple machine ), most of the work is done by hand , using simple materials like – card board, paper, glue(LAI in Hindi), binding cloth , wire(for stapling machine).
Everyday they produce approximately 1000- 2000 pads, depending on the jobs they get. These jobs are basically from businesses in Chawari Bazaar.
On asking him that whether binding done by hand is better or the one done by machine he immediately answers,”Machine would definitely do it better. It’s just that binding in smaller quantities is what has to be done by hand as bindings to be done on machines have to be larger in quantity. Hand binding is also preferred if the size of the book has to be altered again and again/ frequently. ”
The other was not even a firm. There is a person named Laxman Gupta, who with an assistant makes files that are supplied to schools. He has been working past 40 years since this has being passed to him by his father. They make all these files by hand binding and using no machinery even for cutting.
Binding- A unique experience 