Aparnas Boutique

Running Aparnas Boutique here in Hyderabad keeps us pretty busy most days of the week. The shop isn't huge, but we have enough room for the sewing machines and all the different rolls of fabric we keep tucked away in the corners. You know how Hyderabad is, it’s always moving, and there’s always someone looking for something specific to wear for a family thing or just for everyday use. We spend a lot of our time sitting at the tables, measuring out lengths of cloth or fixing up a hem that didn't sit quite right. Sometimes the electricity goes out for a bit, so we just sit by the door where there’s a bit of natural light to keep the work going. It’s not all glamorous like you see in magazines, mostly it’s just a lot of thread snippets on the floor and the sound of the needles clicking. We get all sorts of people coming in, some who know exactly what they want and others who just want to look at the colors for a while. We’ve been at this for a bit now, and the shelves are usually overflowing with half-finished projects or new material we just picked up. It gets a bit crowded when more than two people are inside, but we make it work. By the time we close up and head home, our eyes are usually a bit tired from staring at the stitches all day long.