R. A. Apparels

Our place is on Ponnappa Street, right at number 46/58. Purasawalkam is always busy, so getting here in the morning can be a bit of a struggle with all the scooters and carts. We do apparel work here. It’s mostly sewing machines and stacks of fabric everywhere. The building is older, so the stairs are a bit narrow and steep. We’ve been here for a good amount of time. The fans run all day to keep the heat down while the guys are working. It gets loud with the stitching sounds. We don't have a big sign outside, just enough so people find us. Sometimes we run out of thread colors and someone has to run down the street to grab more from the market. It’s not a corporate office. It’s just us working. We eat lunch together in the back corner. The windows stay open for the breeze, even if the dust comes in. We handle orders as they come. Sometimes it’s a lot at once, other times it’s quiet. We prefer it when it's busy because the day goes by faster. There is a tea stall nearby that knows our order by heart now. We don't do much fancy stuff, just the basic work that needs doing every day. The floor is usually covered in little bits of thread and scraps by the evening. We sweep it up and start again the next morning. It’s a steady rhythm we’ve got.