Raju Stone Co.

We’re located over at the Shri Ramkrishna Apartment in Ahmedabad. It’s in the Anandvatika Society, right across from the old polytechnic in Ambawadi. Our yard is usually full of different kinds of stones and slabs. It’s a bit of a dusty business, honestly. Every time we move a piece of granite or marble, there’s a cloud of it. We’ve been in this part of Ahmedabad for years, and we’ve seen the city grow up all around us. People come to us when they are fixing up their kitchens or floors. We don’t have a polished showroom with lights; you just walk through the stacks and see the stone as it is. Sometimes a piece has a crack or the color isn't quite what someone wanted, so we just find another one. It’s a very hands-on kind of job. My hands are always rough from handling the edges of the stone. We don’t use any big words to talk about our stuff. It’s just stone, and we sell it for what it’s worth. We have a few guys who help with the heavy lifting and the cutting. It’s a simple business, really. We open up early, talk to the contractors who stop by, and try to get the deliveries out before the traffic gets too bad. We've been here so long that even the stray dogs know when we open the gates to start the day.