Vishal Tiles Marble Co.

If you head toward Karmatur Chowkdi, you’ll see our yard at Plot No. 2320. That’s where we keep all the tiles and marble. It’s a heavy business. We spend a lot of our time moving crates around and making sure nothing cracks. The ground is always covered in a fine white dust from the stones. It gets on your clothes and your shoes, and there’s no point in trying to keep it off. We’ve got stacks of different materials piled up everywhere. Some are from nearby and some come from further away. It’s not a quiet place because there’s always a truck backing in or someone cutting a piece of stone to size. The sun beats down on the yard all day, so we try to find shade under the overhangs when we can. Working at Vishal Tiles Marble Co. means you have to be okay with lifting things. We’ve got a few old machines that help out, but a lot of it is just manual labor. People come by the chowkdi looking for stuff for their houses. We show them what’s in the stacks. It’s straightforward work. We don't have a fancy showroom with lights. You just see the stone as it is, sitting there in the sun. We close up when it gets dark and start all over again the next morning. The water we use to cool the saws puddles up and mixes with the dust.