Aanchal Boutique Kolkata

Kolkata is a busy city and we are right in the middle of it at No. 3d Kalicharan Seth Lane. Aanchal Boutique has been our spot for a long time. It’s a narrow street and the cars can't always get through, so people mostly walk. We’ve got fabrics piled up on the shelves and the sewing machines are usually going from morning until evening. It isn't a fancy place with air conditioning or glass doors. We just have the fans spinning overhead and the door stays open to the street. You can hear the neighbor’s radio and the kids playing outside. We spend our time measuring cloth and talking to the people who stop by. Most of them live just a few houses down. We don't have a website or anything like that. We just do the work we have in front of us. Sometimes the shop gets a bit messy with threads and scraps on the floor, but we clean it up when we can. It’s just how a small boutique in Kolkata works. My hands are usually stained with dye or dusty from the fabric rolls. We drink our tea together at four and then get back to it. It’s not a complicated life. We are just here at 3d Kalicharan Seth Lane doing what we know. It's a bit loud and a bit cramped, but it's our place. The walls have a few cracks here and there, but we don't mind.