Balaji. R

You can find me over on Loganatha Nagar 1st Street in Chennai. The address is a bit confusing because of the old and new numbers—it’s Old No. 22 but New No. 28. People sometimes get lost trying to find the gate. It’s a typical Chennai street, narrow and busy at certain times of the day. I’ve been working as an individual professional here for quite some time. My setup is very basic. I have a desk, a couple of chairs for visitors, and stacks of files that seem to grow every week. I handle various accounting and tax tasks for people in the neighborhood and beyond. It’s mostly just me doing the work. I don’t have a big corporate office or a staff of twenty people. When someone brings me their papers, I’m the one who goes through them. We talk about their income, their expenses, and what they need to file. I’ve seen the street change quite a bit over the years, but my work remains the same. It’s a lot of sitting and calculating. Sometimes the power goes out and I have to wait for the backup or just take a break until the lights come back on. It’s a very local way of working. I know most of my clients by name and we usually talk about more than just taxes when they stop by. It’s just how things are done here in my corner of the city.