Tirupati: Among the hundreds of tailors in the temple town of Tirupati who stitch to earn a living, M. Subramanyam also known as “Tailor Mani” and “Pardah Mani” – has the distinction of being the Lord’s personal tailor.

As is strongly believed by millions of devotees of Lord Venkateswara across the globe, the Lord picks his devotees to serve him. And Mr Subramanyam owes his rise to acclaim to his decade and a half long selfless service to the temple at Tirumala.

Tailor Mani’s association with the Tirumala temple began way back in 2000 when a “god-sent” opportunity came knocking, when he first stitched a Hundi cloth for the Tiruchanoor temple.

Impressed with his work, the temple administration bestowed him the task of designing curtains for the three thresholds inside the Tirumala temple that require draperies viz., Bangaru Vakili the golden entrance, Ramulavari Meda and Kulasekhara Padi, which is the closest to the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Venkateswara. Since then, Tailor Mani has been in the service of Lord Venkateswara for the last 15 years by stitching exquisite curtains for the Tirumala temple.

As has been his custom, Mr Mani presents three to five sets of well embroidered drapes four times a year, coinciding with the four major festivals Ugadi, Anivara Asth-anam, Brahmotsavams and Vaikunta Ekadasi.

As per the customary practice, with “Koil Alwar Tirumanjanam” to be held as a prelude to the auspicious Vaikunta Ekadasi fete on Wednesday, Tailor Mani, along with his family members trekked up the Tirumala hills and presented five huge embroidered curtains and two Kuralams, decorative silk drapes which are hung from the ceiling above the main deity, and one in the Sayana Mandapam where the Lord sleeps during the Ekanta Seva.

Speaking to this newspaper from his small tailor shop in Bazaar Street in Tirupati, Mr Mani said, “Special beads, sequins, silk, woolen lace, kundans and around 40 other materials procured from across the country went into the making of the special drapes.”