Paper Blues

If you go down to Chira Bazar in Kalbadevi, you’ll find us at Faria Niwas. Paper Blues is spread across rooms 401 and 405. It’s an old building, so the stairs can be a bit of a climb. Mumbai is always loud and our street near Jama Masjid is no different. We spend our days dealing with a lot of paper products. It gets dusty, but that’s the nature of the work. We started out small and stayed that way because it’s easier to manage things ourselves. We don't have a bunch of fancy machines. A lot of the sorting and checking is done by hand on the big tables we have set up. You can hear the sounds of the market from our windows all day long. Sometimes it's hard to hear the phone ringing over the traffic and the shouting outside. We deal with various shops in the area. Most of the people who come to see us have been doing business with us for years. They know the way up the stairs. We don't put up posters or try to act bigger than we are. It’s just us and the stacks of paper. Sometimes we have tea delivered from the stall downstairs and take a break for ten minutes. Then it’s back to work. It’s a bit cramped in here with all the stock, but we make it work. Most days are long, but we like the routine.