Diamond Agarbatti & Co.

If you walk down 4th Cross in Sri Rampuram, you will probably smell us before you see us. We are at Door No. 1, right at the start of the lane. Diamond Agarbatti & Co. has been a part of this neighborhood for a long time. The smell of sandalwood and jasmine usually hangs in the air around our door all day. It’s a family-run thing, really. We have people who have been sitting in the same spots for years, rolling and packing the incense sticks. The floors are always a bit dusty with the powder we use, and our hands usually have a bit of that scent stuck to them even after we wash up to go home. The building is old, with high ceilings and not much light, but it stays cool during the hot months which is nice. We don't do much advertising; people just know we are here in Sri Rampuram. Sometimes kids from the street come by to see what we are doing. We keep the doors open most of the time to let the air move through. It isn't a high-tech factory. Most of what we do is by hand, checking each batch to see if it’s dry enough to box up. We have stacks of cardboard and paper everywhere. It might look a bit messy to an outsider, but we know where everything is. We just keep doing what we know, day in and day out.