Vikram Prakashan

Avenue Road is always a bit much, especially around Sanjeevanappa Lane where we sit. Vikram Prakashan is right there at number 79, just across from Rice Memorial Church. You can hear the bells and the traffic all day long. We start our mornings by pulling up the shutters and letting the dust settle. It is a small place, really. The shelves are packed with all sorts of things we have printed over the years. We spend a lot of time just moving boxes from one corner to the other to make space. The walls could use a fresh coat of paint, but we never seem to get around to it. Sometimes people wander in thinking we are part of the church or looking for directions to the main market. We just point them the right way. It is mostly just us here, handling the daily routine of orders and paper. The floor is old stone and stays cool even when the sun is beating down on the street outside. We have a small desk near the front where we keep the ledger and a bottle of water. It is not a quiet life on this street, but it is what we know. We see the same tea seller every afternoon and the same faces walking to the bus stop. It is just a regular shop in a very busy part of Bangalore.