Maruthi Paints

You can find Maruthi Paints over in Palace Guttahalli, right on the ground floor of building number 32/1 on Nagappa Street. If you’ve ever been through this part of Bangalore, you know how narrow and busy these streets can get during the rush hours. Our shop is usually a bit of a mess with paint cans stacked up high and color swatches scattered around the wooden counter. There’s always that distinct smell of fresh paint and thinners in the air, which stays with you even after you go home for the night. We spend a lot of our time mixing different shades by hand or machine and trying to help people figure out what they need for their houses or small repair projects. The floors have drips of color from years of work, which gives the place some character, I suppose. It’s not a polished store by any means; it’s a working shop where real things actually happen every day. Nagappa Street stays pretty lively with people walking by and bikes squeezing through, so there’s always something to look at while we’re working on an order. We have some regulars who have been coming to us since we first opened up here. We don't use any fancy systems, just our eyes and some basic tools to get the colors right. It’s a busy life, especially during the festive seasons when everyone wants to freshen up their homes. We just keep at it, one can at a time, until it’s time to pull the shutters down.