Payal Moorti Bhandar

Our place is at House No.2515, right in Lalaji Ka Chowk on the 3rd Cross of Khajane Walo Ka Rasta. This part of the city is always crowded and the lanes are pretty narrow, but it has been our home for a long time. We spend most of our hours working on different moortis. It is a lot of painting and fine detail work that takes a toll on the eyes. The shop is tucked away, so you really have to know the turns to find us near the chowk. We usually have several projects going on at once, some drying in the corner while we work on the faces of others. It gets quite hot in the summer, and the fans barely do much, but the work has to happen. We get a lot of people coming through this lane looking for specific items for their homes or temples. It is not a big corporate operation, just us in this old house doing what we know how to do. The brushes get worn out fast and we are always buying more paint. Sometimes the neighbor's kids run through the shop, and we have to tell them to be careful around the finished pieces. It is a busy, noisy, and very local atmosphere here. We don't have a big sign or anything, just the work sitting there for anyone who walks by to see. There is always tea on the stove if things get too slow.