Sri Nirmal Flora

Our little place is located at 38/4, right beside Lake View in the Shivaji Nagar area. It’s actually a pretty nice spot because of the view of the water, though to be honest, we spend most of our hours inside looking at flower stems and leaves. The shop itself isn't very large at all. We have rows of plastic buckets lined up all over the floor. Every morning starts quite early for us when the trucks show up with the new stock. It’s usually cold and a bit damp in the back room where we have the big water tanks for soaking everything. My hands are almost always stained a bit green by the middle of the day from cutting so many stems. That’s just a normal part of the job for us. We get plenty of local people walking by on their way to other places. Some stop in for just a single rose to carry, while others want a big bunch for a temple visit or maybe a birthday party. We don't use any of those fancy machines to wrap things. Everything is done by hand with a pair of old, heavy shears. You have to be careful where you walk because the floor stays a bit wet. We’ve been in this neighborhood for a while now and know the regulars pretty well. Some people always want the bright yellow marigolds, while others only look for white jasmine. We just try to have enough.