Malini Kothari

Living and working out of Rupkatha Apartment means the day starts with the sound of the neighbors moving around upstairs. 27 Prantik Pally Road isn't a very wide street, so you hear every car that honks at the corner. My name is on the door, Malini Kothari, and this is where I keep everything sorted. It's a bit crowded in here today. I have boxes stacked near the window that overlooks Bosepukur. The light is okay in the mornings, which helps when I am looking through papers or checking the stock. I try to keep the living room separate from the work stuff, but it usually overflows by Tuesday. Sometimes the delivery guys get lost looking for the entrance, so I have to go down and wave them in from the gate. The apartment has that old building smell, a mix of cooking and damp concrete. I spend a lot of time just moving things from one pile to another to make space for the tea kettle. It’s quiet in the afternoons when the sun hits the balcony. I usually take a break then and look at the trees outside. It’s not a fancy setup, just a desk and a few shelves crammed into the corner. My phone rings a lot, and I spend half my time hunting for a pen that actually works. It’s just how things are run here, one day at a time, right in the middle of Bosepukur.