Vishal Lotankar

This is Vishal Lotankar's place, right in Room Number 10 of William Chawl. If you know Mumbai, you know how life is in a chawl. It’s crowded and loud, but there’s always something happening. We’ve been at this address in the 400 078 area for quite some time now. It’s a small room, but it’s where everything happens for us. We don't have fancy office furniture or a reception desk. It’s just a table, some chairs, and us working. The neighbors are always around, and you can hear the kids playing outside. It’s not the kind of place you see in movies about big business. It’s real and it’s a bit cramped, but we make it work. We spend our days trying to keep up with everything. Sometimes the heat in Mumbai gets to be too much, but we have a small fan that does the trick. We aren't trying to be anything we’re not. It’s just a local operation run by people who live nearby. People know us by name around here. We don't use big words or have long meetings. We just talk and get the tasks finished. It’s a basic life, and we are fine with that. No big dreams of moving to a skyscraper. We like it right here in William Chawl. It’s where we started and it’s where we feel most comfortable. We don't have a receptionist to answer calls; we just pick up the phone ourselves when it rings.