Pooja Kalyana Mantapa

If you walk past Mariapa Circle in Kamakshi Palya, you’ve probably seen us near Sai Ganesh Park. Pooja Kalyana Mantapa has seen a lot of weddings and small gatherings over the years. This part of Bangalore is always moving, and Keshav Nagar is no different. We spend most of our time moving heavy chairs around or trying to get the decorations to stay up when the wind picks up. It’s a lot of physical labor, honestly. After a big party, the place is usually a mess with flower petals and paper everywhere, so the morning after is always spent with brooms and buckets. We don’t have a fancy website or a marketing team; it’s just us answering the phone and showing people the hall. People like being near the park, so we get a lot of families from the neighborhood. The kitchen area gets really hot when they’re cooking for three hundred people, and the noise from the circle can be a bit much sometimes, but you get used to it. We’ve seen kids grow up and then come back here to get married themselves, which is kind of nice to think about. We just try to make sure the lights work and there’s enough water for the guests. It’s a simple business of providing a roof for people to celebrate under, and as long as the hall is clean, we feel like we’ve done our job for the day.