Sai Baba Marbles

The New Marble Market is a loud place. Being here at Sai Baba Marbles means you are surrounded by stone every single day. Sheetla Mata Road is always full of trucks and the sound of machines cutting through granite. It is a very gritty environment. You spend the morning sweeping up stone chips and trying to keep the dust from taking over everything. There is no point in wearing your best clothes to work here. We deal with all kinds of people. Some know exactly what they want, and others just wander around the yard touching the edges of the slabs. The stones are very heavy, so we have to be smart when moving them around. If you drop one, it’s a total loss. My back usually hurts by the end of the shift, but that is just the nature of the work. The market has changed a lot since we started, with more shops opening up and more people coming through. Lunch is usually a quick meal from the stall down the street. We sit on plastic chairs and talk about the cost of materials or the heat. When it rains, the ground gets muddy and everything slows down. But mostly it is just steady, hard work. We open up early and stay until the market starts to get quiet in the evening. It’s a decent way to earn a living if you do not mind the noise.