S. Mansukhlal & Co.

If you know Kalbadevi Road, you know how crowded it gets. Our office is in the Ruia Building, which has been standing there for a long time. S. Mansukhlal & Co. has been operating out of this spot for years. We still use P.O. Box 2366 for a lot of our mail because it’s just easier that way with the local post office. Inside the office, it smells like old paper and ink. We handle a lot of trading stuff, mostly traditional business that involves a lot of ledgers and handwritten notes. It’s not a fancy place with glass partitions or air conditioning that actually works all day. We have fans that hum loudly and heavy wooden desks. The street noise outside is constant—horns, people shouting, and carts being pushed over the uneven road. We usually have tea brought in from the stall downstairs twice a day. Dealing with the traffic to get here is the hardest part of the job. Once we’re inside, it’s just about getting through the day’s list of tasks. We talk to a lot of regular clients who have been coming to us since before I started working here. It’s a very old-school way of doing things, but it works for us. We don’t change things just for the sake of it. The building is 395 Kalbadevi Road, and it’s easy to miss if you aren’t looking for the sign.