Manglam Trading Co.

Our office is at 92 Nagdevi Street, up on the second floor in room 201. If you know Mumbai, you know Nagdevi Street is one of those places where you can barely walk during the day because of all the handcarts and people moving goods. It is a tight squeeze getting up the stairs, especially if someone is coming down with a box. Manglam Trading Co. has been operating out of this small space for a good while. It is not a place for lounging around. The walls are lined with shelves that are mostly full of files and samples of the stuff we trade. The fan overhead hums all day long, but it doesn't do much when the humidity really kicks in. We spend a lot of time on the phone or scribbling notes on yellow pads. It’s a lot of back and forth with suppliers and trying to figure out where a specific order has reached. Sometimes the electricity goes out for a bit, and we just sit there in the dim light waiting for it to come back so we can get back to the computer. It's a typical old-school trading setup where everyone knows the neighbors in the building. We grab tea from the stall downstairs a few times a day and talk about the market. It is a busy, slightly messy way to work, but it keeps us moving and the days go by pretty fast in this part of the city. We don't have fancy furniture, just what we need to get the daily tasks finished.