Alhuda Publications

We have been here at Shop No 2982 in Kucha Neelakanta for a long time. Daryaganj is always busy and we are right near Golcha Cinema Hall. It gets crowded outside. We mostly deal with publishing stuff. Sometimes the street is so full of people you can barely walk but we open up every morning. It’s an old building. We spend most of the day surrounded by stacks of paper and books. Dealing with prints and getting things ready takes time. People come in looking for specific things. We just do our work here. It’s a small space but it fits what we need. Sometimes the electricity acts up or the delivery trucks get stuck in the narrow lanes. That is just how life is in this part of town. We are used to the noise from the main road. If you find your way through the alleys, you’ll see our sign. We keep things simple. No fancy office here, just desks and shelves full of materials. The walls are a bit stained from the monsoon rains last year. We should probably paint them but we never seem to have the time. Our ledger is almost full, so I will need to buy a new one soon. My nephew helps out on the weekends when he is not at school. He is learning how to handle the customers. We do not use any software for the accounts, just the hand-written books. It works for us. The tea guy around the corner knows exactly how we like our chai. Sometimes we sit on the wooden stools outside for five minutes just to breathe. Then it is back to the papers. It is a simple life.