Ambika Cotton Mills Ltd.

Ambika Cotton Mills Ltd. is based at 15 Valluvar Street in Sivanandha Colony. It’s more of a residential-looking street than you might expect for a cotton mill office. The building is older, with high ceilings and those big old fans that click while they spin. People walk by on their way to the local shops while we are inside dealing with samples and mountains of paperwork. Cotton is a tricky business because the prices are always jumping around, so the phones are usually ringing off the hook. We have some samples lying around on the tables for people to look at when they stop by. It’s not a factory site here; this is where the planning and the phone calls happen. The trees outside give a bit of shade, which is nice because the sun can be quite brutal in the afternoon. Sometimes the street gets blocked by a delivery truck and the neighbors complain, so we have to hurry them along. It’s a tight-knit community in this colony. We’ve been in this same spot for years, and we know the tea guy and the stationery shop owner on the corner by name. It’s a comfortable place to work, even if it gets a bit chaotic when the harvest season starts. We just keep doing what we’ve always done, buying and selling and keeping track of the bales. It is not glamorous but it works for us.