Buddhilal Laxmiprakash Gotewala

Our place is called Buddhilal Laxmiprakash Gotewala and we are over at 27 Lalji Sand Ka Rasta, just off Chaura Rasta. It’s a bit of a mouthful of a name, but it’s been that way since my grandfather’s time. We deal in gota, which is the traditional gold and silver lace work you see on a lot of Indian clothes. The shop isn’t on the main road, so you have to walk down the lane a bit to find us. It’s a very traditional kind of shop. We don’t have mannequins or bright spotlights. Instead, we have hundreds of rolls of gota stacked up on shelves that go all the way to the ceiling. It can be hard to find exactly what someone wants, but we usually know where everything is kept. The air in here smells like old cotton and thread. We spend our days sitting on the floor or small cushions, showing different patterns to customers. It’s slow work and can be hard on the eyes. Chaura Rasta is always loud, but our lane is a tiny bit quieter. We don’t have a website or anything like that. People come to us because they know we’ve been at number 27 for decades. We don't claim to be the biggest or anything, we just do our work and try to keep the tradition going. It’s a family business through and through, and we plan to stay right here in Lalji Sand Ka Rasta as long as we can.