Lokenath Bouti

Lokenath Bouti is tucked away in the Chinar Park area of Rajarhat Gopalpur. It is a busy part of Kolkata, and there is always something going on outside on the street. We spend our hours surrounded by different rolls of fabric and piles of clothes that need sorting. The shop isn't very large, but we try to make use of every bit of space we have on the shelves. People from the neighborhood stop in quite a bit, mostly just to see what came in recently. We spend a lot of time folding things and putting them back after someone has looked through them. Dealing with the heat and the humidity in Kolkata is just part of the job, especially when the shop gets crowded in the evenings. We don't follow any corporate rules or anything like that. It is just a local business where we know most of our customers by sight. Sometimes the deliveries arrive late because of the traffic in Rajarhat, and we have to spend the evening unpacking boxes. The floors need sweeping every few hours because of the dust from the road. We are just regular people trying to run a shop without too much fuss. It is a lot of standing around and waiting, followed by a sudden rush of people. We keep the ledger updated by hand most of the time. It is a simple way of working that suits us well enough.