Southall Travel

Our office is on the second floor in Gautam Nagar, which means we get a bit of a workout every day because the stairs are steep. It is one of those typical New Delhi buildings where everything is a bit cramped but we make it work. We have desks piled with folders and printouts of flight itineraries. Mostly we handle people who are looking to travel abroad, especially to the UK or the Middle East. It is a lot of talking. The phone rings constantly and usually, it is someone asking if the ticket prices have dropped since yesterday. We have to tell them that the airlines change their minds every five minutes. The light in the office is a bit dim in the afternoons because the building next door is so close, so we keep the overhead tubes on all day. It gets hot in the summer, but the AC unit in the corner does its best, even if it rattles. Sometimes clients come in and sit on the plastic chairs while we check their passport details. We don't have a big sign outside, just a small one, so sometimes people call us from the street saying they are lost. We just tell them to look for the pharmacy and then come up the stairs. It is a simple operation here. We just focus on getting the tickets booked and making sure the names are spelled right on the forms.