Sowmya Deshpande

I set up my office here at Rajabahadur Mansion a while back. It’s an old building with a lot of character, right above George Restaurant in the Fort area. You can usually smell the food cooking downstairs around lunchtime, which is either great or distracting depending on how hungry I am. The stairs are a bit steep to get up to number 22, but once you're inside, it’s actually quite peaceful compared to the S V P Nagar traffic outside. I handle various types of work, mostly legal or administrative stuff that people need help sorting out. My desk is usually covered in notebooks and pens because I still prefer writing things down by hand before I type them up. There isn't any fancy lobby or a receptionist greeting people at the door. It is just me in the room. I’ve lived in this city for a long time, so I know how hard it is to get things done without the right paperwork. People find me through word of mouth mostly, or because they were having lunch downstairs and saw the nameplate. The windows are old and sometimes rattle when a big truck goes by, but the light is good in the afternoons. It’s a practical space for the kind of work I do. I usually keep some biscuits in the drawer for when guests stop by for a meeting. It's not corporate, just a workspace that fits my needs.