Shubha Coffee Centre

BVK Iyengar Road is probably one of the busiest streets you’ll ever see. It’s crowded with shops and people carrying boxes everywhere. Our coffee centre is on Dastagir Road, at number 191. It’s just a small corner, really. We don’t have much room for people to sit, so most of them just stand outside on the pavement with their cups. The smell of the roasting beans is what brings them in. We have a big machine that grinds the coffee, and it makes a loud buzzing sound that you get used to after a while. I spend the whole day pouring milk and mixing the sugar. My hands are always moving. We have some snacks in glass jars on the counter, like biscuits and some savory bits. It’s a very fast pace here. People are in a hurry to get back to their shops or their deliveries. We don't have any fancy menus or pictures on the wall. It’s just the price list and the steam from the milk. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to wait a bit, but mostly we just keep going. It’s a simple life, making coffee for people who are working hard. By the time we close the shutters at night, my feet are tired, but the smell of coffee is still on my clothes. It’s just what we do here every single day.