Nandhini Hotel

I'm usually here at Nandhini Hotel on St. Marks Road by six in the morning. No. 72 is an old spot, and we spend the first hour just getting the kitchen lights on and moving the heavy vegetable crates around. It’s a busy part of town, right here in the 560001 area. Most days, the traffic starts picking up outside before we even get the first pot of coffee going on the stove. We don’t have fancy chairs or any expensive decorations, just the usual wooden tables that we wipe down a dozen times a day with a damp cloth. The staff here has been around for a few years, so we all know who does what without talking too much or making a fuss. When the lunch rush hits, it gets really loud inside. You can hear the metal plates clinking and people talking loudly over their phones. Sometimes the ceiling fans don't move the air fast enough when the room is packed with people. We just keep serving the food and hope the power doesn't flicker like it does sometimes on this old street. By the time evening comes, we’re all pretty tired, but there’s always more cleaning to do before we can lock the front gate. It’s just how things go here on St. Marks Road. We see many office workers and people walking by who just need a quick bite. Nothing stays still for long in this neighborhood. My hands usually smell like spices by the time I get home, and the floor always needs one last sweep no matter how many times we’ve done it during the shift.