Laxmi Stationery & Xerox

There is a specific smell in our shop on New Link Road. It’s a mix of fresh paper, ink, and that hot smell the Xerox machine makes when it’s been running for three hours straight. We’re in Vile Parle West, right at number 1. People come in for the smallest things, like a single blue pen or a packet of staples. We also get the students who are in a panic because their project is due and they need fifty pages printed right now. The shop is small, so we have to stack the notebooks and the reams of paper pretty high. Sometimes things fall over if you aren’t careful. We don’t have a fancy computer system for the inventory. We just know what’s in the back and what we need to order for next week. The glass on the copier gets smudged, so we’re always wiping it down with a bit of cloth. It’s a lot of standing up and reaching for things on the top shelves. We don’t really do any big marketing. The local kids just know we have the right kind of chart paper for their school work. It’s a simple life behind the counter. We watch the traffic go by on the Link Road and wait for the next person who needs a copy made. It’s steady work, and we like the rhythm of it even when it gets crowded.