Alka Jewellers

We've been at Kalbadevi 1st Stage for a long time. The shop is at 69/87/75, which sounds confusing but makes sense once you are here in the middle of it. Kalbadevi is always packed with people and carts, so it’s a very lively place to work. We spend our days behind the counter, showing pieces to whoever walks in. It’s a lot of sitting and waiting, then suddenly being very busy when a family comes in together for a wedding. We do some repairs and cleaning of old jewelry too. The lighting in the shop is bright so people can see the gold and stones properly. We don't have a big fancy showroom like the chains you see in the malls. It’s just our local shop where people from the neighborhood come. We know many of our customers by name, and sometimes their parents were customers here too when they were younger. The streets outside are narrow and the noise is constant, but inside it feels a bit more contained and quiet. We have to be very careful with everything, so there is a lot of locking and unlocking of cases throughout the day. It's a traditional way of doing business, really. No fancy computer systems for everything, just ledgers and receipts written by hand. We take our tea in the afternoon and watch the shoppers go by the front door. It’s a steady kind of life for us here.