Sree Durga Engineering Works

The workshop for Sree Durga Engineering Works is found on Madhab Babu Lane in Ghusuri at number 23. It’s an industrial kind of neighborhood, so there’s always the sound of metal hitting metal or the hum of heavy machinery from the nearby sheds. Our workshop is a bit dark and smells of oil and iron, which is exactly how an engineering place should be. We have a lot of tools scattered across the workbenches, from heavy wrenches to smaller precision instruments. The floor is concrete and has plenty of scratches from moving heavy equipment around over the years. We spend most of our time at the lathes or welding parts back together. It’s hard work and your hands are almost always covered in grease by noon. We have a small corner with a table where we keep the drawings and blueprints, usually weighed down by a heavy bolt so they don't blow away. The roof is made of corrugated sheets, so when it rains, it’s so loud you can’t hear yourself think. We usually share a pot of tea in the mid-morning while we discuss what needs to be finished by the end of the shift. It’s not a clean job, but there’s a lot of satisfaction in fixing something that was broken. We just keep our heads down and get through the pile of work that comes in every week. There are always spare parts lying around in boxes waiting to be used.