Ajantha Bakers

If you are looking for us on Paper Mills Road, you have to keep an eye out for the number. It used to be 34, but now it’s 71. Perambur is the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows each other, so people usually find us anyway. The bakery has been a fixture here for a long time. It isn't a huge operation. We mostly just have the ovens in the back and a small counter in the front. Early in the morning, the whole street smells like yeast and sugar. It’s probably the best part of the job. We don’t have a marketing team or a fancy website. It’s just a few of us making bread, buns, and the occasional cake for a birthday. The floor is usually a bit dusty with flour, no matter how much we sweep. We have regular customers who have been coming since they were kids. They come in for a loaf of bread and stay to talk about the weather or the local news. The counter is a bit scratched up from years of use. We use old-fashioned scales for some things still. It’s not about being the most modern place in Chennai. We just want to make sure the crust is right and the middle is soft. When the afternoon sun hits the front window, it gets pretty warm inside. We usually close up once the last trays are empty.