Balaji Traders

The Laxmi Industrial Estate is a bit of a maze, especially if you are trying to find unit 16/A for the first time. We are located just off Link Road in Andheri West, which means we spend a lot of our time dealing with the local traffic and the noise of the city. Our place is more of a warehouse than a proper office. It is filled with rows of metal racks and stacks of goods that go all the way to the ceiling. We have a small desk near the front where we keep the ledger and the phone. It is usually quite busy with delivery boys coming in and out with their clipboards. During the monsoon, the rain hammers down on the roof so loudly that we have to shout to be heard. We do not have any fancy furniture, just some old plastic chairs for when people come by to talk business. The air is always a bit heavy with the smell of the estate, a mix of oil and dust. We eat our lunch quickly at our desks, usually whatever we brought from home. There is always a lot of heavy lifting to do, so we stay pretty active throughout the shift. It is not a glamorous job, but we like being in this part of town. Everyone in the estate knows each other, so there is a nice sense of community even if the work is hard and the space is a bit crowded.