Vivekananda Press

Out here in Balitikuri Ramkrishna Polley, things move a bit slower than in the city center, but our press stays busy. Vivekananda Press is a noisy place because of the machines running all day long. You can smell the ink as soon as you turn the corner onto our street. We have a few guys who have been working the printers for years, and they know exactly how to fix them when they get jammed. It’s a messy job, really. Our hands are usually covered in some kind of stain by lunch time. We print all sorts of things, from small cards to bigger posters for the local shops. The building isn't very big, so we have to stack the paper rolls wherever they will fit. Sometimes it’s hard to move around without bumping into something. We don’t have a fancy office or a place for meetings. Usually, if someone wants to talk, we just stand near the front door where it’s a bit quieter. The power goes out sometimes, and then everything gets very silent until the generator kicks in. We’ve been part of this neighborhood for a long time, and people just drop by to say hello or ask for a quick print job. It’s a lot of hard work and long hours, but we like the rhythm of the machines. The floor is stained with black ink that will never come out, no matter how much we scrub it.