Esha Roy

Netaji Nagar is where I have set things up for my daily work. The address is 5/12, and it is a typical Kolkata neighborhood through and through. You have the narrow streets, lots of people walking by, and the sound of the city always hums in the background. I started this because I wanted to work for myself instead of being in a big firm. It is not a huge operation at all. Most of the work happens in one room that I turned into an office space. I have lived in West Bengal my whole life, so I am used to the fast pace and the noise here. Some days the traffic in Kolkata makes it hard to get anything delivered on time, but we manage to find a way. You learn to work around the delays and the rain. The neighbors are used to seeing people coming in and out of 5/12 by now. It is a bit cramped inside with all the boxes and supplies, but it works for what I need. I don’t have a big staff to help me. It’s mostly just me and sometimes a friend helps out when things get way too busy to handle alone. We drink a lot of tea while we work to keep our energy up during the long afternoons. I try to keep the paperwork in some kind of order, but it is a struggle. It feels good to have a place of my own.