Vickey Florist

Vickey Florist is located at 3 General A K Vaidya Marg, right beside the Jain Mandir in the Nalasopara side of Andheri West. Being next to the temple means we go through a lot of marigolds and yellow flowers every single morning. The bells from the Mandir are the background noise to our whole day. We start very early, usually before the first devotees arrive. The shop itself is pretty cramped with all the crates and the buckets of water. We have to be careful with the floor because it gets quite slick from all the flower clippings and spilled water. We don't have any polished sales pitch; we just show people what we have on the racks. The traffic on General A K Vaidya Marg is constant, so it’s never really quiet here. We spend a lot of time untangling the strings we use for the garlands. It’s a lot of repetitive work, but it’s what we do. The smell of incense from the temple mixes with the scent of the lilies, which is quite nice actually. We don't have an office or anything, just a small desk where we keep the cash and a few spare pairs of scissors. Sometimes the humidity in Andheri West is a real problem for the delicate petals, so we’re always moving things into the shade to save them. It’s a basic life, but it keeps us busy from dawn till dusk.