Rukmani Textiles

Rukmani Textiles is located at 148 Rangai Gowder Street. If you’ve ever walked down this street, you know how narrow and crowded it gets. There are people everywhere and the noise is constant. Our shop is packed from floor to ceiling with rolls of cloth. Sometimes it’s hard to even move around because we have so much stock shoved into every corner. We spend most of our time unrolling fabric for people to look at and then rolling it back up again. It’s a lot of dust from the textiles, and we’re constantly sweeping the floor. The lighting isn't the best, so we often have to take a piece of cloth to the door just to see the real color in the sunlight. We’ve been here a long time, and the building shows its age. The wooden shelves are a bit bowed under the weight of the heavy cottons and silks. We don't have a computer system to track everything; we mostly just remember where things are or check our handwritten ledgers. It’s a very traditional way of doing things. Our staff consists of a few family members and a couple of helpers who have been with us forever. We just sit on our stools, wait for customers, and chat with the other shopkeepers on the street when it’s quiet. It’s a simple life surrounded by colors and threads, and we usually close up when the street lights come on.