Papri Boutique

Papri Boutique is on the ground floor of the Shanti Niketan Apartment building. We are shop number 10, right in the middle of the Amartala Market in Chinsurah. It is a busy spot in the Hooghly district. There are always rolls of fabric and half-finished pieces of clothing lying around on the counters. It gets quite crowded in here when a few people come in at once because the shop isn't that big. We spend a lot of time with the sewing machines going in the back room. The sound of the needles is pretty much the background noise of our lives. Being in the market means we see everything that happens outside on the street. It is dusty and loud, but that is the energy of the place. We have some shelves where we display the finished items, though things often get moved around and messy. We don't have a professional decorator or anything like that. We just put things where they fit. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to sit by the door to get enough light to see the stitching. The residents of the apartment building above us often stop by to chat. It is a very local atmosphere. We keep a notebook for all the measurements and orders, and it is getting pretty beat up at the edges. It is just us working with the cloth and trying to get things done on time.