Why I Returned to Banaras After IIT Delhi — The Story Behind HKV Benaras

Some people chase careers.
Some chase purpose.
And some discover that the path forward sometimes leads back home.

This is the story of how a boy who grew up among looms in Banaras, travelled through IIT Delhi, spent years building technology in India’s top startups — only to return to the very lanes he once left behind.
Not out of obligation.
But out of love.
And responsibility.

Growing Up in the Sound of Looms

I was born into a 5th-generation weaving family in Banaras — a city where every thread carries history, and every home carries a loom.
My earliest memories are not of toys or textbooks but of:

warp beams being set up by hand,
bobbins being filled with silk so fine it almost floated,
and my father and grandfather weaving patterns with a precision that no machine could ever match.

Back then, I didn’t know words like heritage, craft, or textile engineering.
I only knew one thing:
that weaving was more than work — it was our identity.

But along with beauty, I also saw hardship.
I saw artisans struggle despite their skill.
I saw middlemen earn more than weavers.
I saw fake “Banarasi” flood the market until true handloom became almost invisible.

And somewhere, quietly, I made a promise to myself:
“One day, I’ll do something for this craft.”

The IIT Detour That Reshaped Everything

Life took me to IIT Delhi, where I studied Textile Engineering.
It was a world of laboratories, machinery, material science, simulations — a natural opposite of the intuitive, emotional universe of handloom.

But IIT taught me something priceless:
the power of systems, technology, and scale.

Later, working in AI and data science at unicorn startups showed me how industries transformed when the right tools were applied.
But even amid high-speed tech culture, something felt missing.

Every time I closed my laptop at night, I would think:

“If we can build advanced AI for banking, logistics, health…
why has no one built technology to protect the hands that actually built India’s heritage?”

The question grew louder each year.

Returning to Banaras — Not to Escape Tech, but to Use It

My return to Banaras wasn’t a romantic decision.
It was a practical, urgent one.

Handloom weavers were declining rapidly.
Machine-made textiles were being passed off as “handloom.”
Artisans were losing dignity, income, and relevance.
And the world was buying stories — not authenticity.

I knew I couldn’t just return as a spectator.
So I came back as an engineer and a weaver’s son.

That dual identity became the foundation of HKV Benaras —
a brand built not on marketing, but on heritage and truth.

The Birth of HKV Benaras — A Bridge Between Past and Future

HKV Benaras started with a simple purpose:

To protect, preserve, and reimagine the weaving heritage of Banaras.

Not by romanticizing the past.
But by using the tools of the future.

We began working directly with artisans again.
Restoring dignity, ensuring fair earnings, reviving old techniques, and creating designs rooted in Banaras but tailored for today’s world.

At the same time, I built Hastkala Pramanak, an AI + IoT + NFC-based authenticity and traceability system — ensuring every saree carries:

where it was woven,
by which artisan,
on which loom,
with what technique.

It is heritage protected by technology.
Not to replace artisans — but to protect them.

Why This Matters Now

India is at a strange crossroad.

Countries like the UK are now raising awareness to save even their powerloom weavers.
Meanwhile, in Banaras, handloom artisans — the living heritage of a 700-year-old craft — are disappearing.

If the current decline continues, there may be no handloom weavers left by 2040.

This is not a statistic.
It is a warning.

HKV Benaras exists to ensure that never becomes reality.

What We Are Building

1. A brand that belongs to artisans, not corporations.

Real craftsmen. Real wages. Real stories.

2. Textiles that honour Banaras — Kadhua, Tanchoi, Shikargah, Jamdani.

Not watered-down versions, not shortcuts.

3. A global ecosystem for authentic handloom.

Where buyers know what they own.
Where artisans know they matter.
Where technology guards the truth.

Coming Back Full Circle

When I sit in our workshop today — watching the looms move, hearing the rhythm of threads — I realise something:

I didn’t return to Banaras to revive a family business.
I returned to revive a legacy.

And HKV Benaras is not just my story.
It is the story of every artisan who refuses to give up,
every saree that carries a piece of Banaras,
and every person who chooses craft over convenience.

This journey isn’t complete.
It’s only begun.