Guardbook Conservation Foundation

If you look for the Guardbook Conservation Foundation, you will find us on the 3rd floor of 214 Chittaranjan Avenue. Our office is in Room No. 3A. Being in the middle of Kolkata, especially on an avenue as busy as CR Avenue, means there is never a quiet moment. You can hear the trams and the buses honking from downstairs all day long. The building is one of those older Kolkata structures with high ceilings and a slow elevator that we sometimes avoid by taking the stairs. Inside Room 3A, it is a bit of a different world. We have stacks of books and papers everywhere because that is just the nature of conservation work. It is not the most organized-looking place, but we know where everything is. The air is thick with the smell of old paper and city dust. We have a few lamps on the desks to help with the dim lighting in the afternoons. Most of us have been working here for a long time, so we are used to the cramped space. We drink a lot of coffee and try to keep the windows closed to shut out the noise, though it never quite works. It is a bit of a squeeze when we have more than two visitors, but we always find a spare stool for them. It is just our little corner of the city where we keep things going.