Tilottama Beauty Parlour

Tilottama is over in Gorabazar on Post Office Road. Dum Dum is always crowded and our street is no different. You can hear the post office trucks backing up and the people shouting in the market all day long. The parlour isn't very big. We have a few chairs and some shelves for our creams and threads. It gets very dusty from the road so we are always wiping things down. The ladies come in after they finish their morning shopping at the bazaar. They bring their bags and sit for a bit to rest their feet while we work. We have one big window but it stays shut because of the noise and the heat outside. The paint on the walls is a light green that we chose years ago. It’s starting to peel a bit near the ceiling. We don't have any big music system, just a small radio that plays the local stations. Sometimes the electricity goes out and we have to use hand fans until the power comes back. It's just a local place for local people. We know most of the women who walk through the door by their first names. We talk about the prices of vegetables or what’s happening at the post office. It’s a simple life here in Kolkata. We just keep the door open and wait for the next person to come in. That is how the day goes.