Maruti Florist

The shop is located at 31 Girgaon, and it’s a tight space, but we make it work. Every morning is the same routine, waking up when it’s still dark to get the fresh stock from the main market. Maruti Florist has been part of this neighborhood for a good bit of time. The sidewalk outside gets narrow when we put the buckets out, but people in Girgaon are used to walking around them. We spend a lot of time cleaning up the thorns and the broken petals that pile up by noon. It's not glamorous work, and my back usually aches by the end of the shift from leaning over the table for so many hours. We don't use any high-tech gadgets or anything, just some sharp scissors and a lot of twine. Sometimes the monsoons make things difficult because the rain gets into the shop, and we have to move everything back away from the entrance. The humidity makes the flowers bloom too fast sometimes, which is a bit of a headache. We mostly just talk to the regulars who live in the nearby buildings. They come in for their daily puja flowers or just to see what came in fresh that morning. It’s loud out on the street with the horns and the buses, but inside it’s just the sound of us working and the water splashing. We keep things simple here at number 31 and just focus on the daily chores.