Kashmir Govt Arts

If you’ve ever walked down Baba Kharak Singh Marg, you’ve probably seen the State Emporia Complex. We are at 7-A, tucked in with all the other state shops. It’s an old building, and it has that specific smell of old wood and wool. Kashmir Govt Arts has been here since before I can remember. It’s a government-run spot, so things move at their own pace. We have these massive carpets that have been hanging on the walls for years, and they’ve seen thousands of people walk past. Most days it’s tourists coming in to look at the shawls or the papier-mache boxes. We spend a lot of time unfolding things and then folding them back up again. The lighting isn't the best, and the air conditioning can be a bit moody in the peak of summer. We know the staff at the other emporiums well; we all eat lunch in the back area. It’s a bit of a maze in here. Sometimes we lose track of what’s in the deep storage. It’s not like those modern malls. It feels more like a piece of history. We don’t do much fancy talk to get people to buy things. They usually know what they’re looking for when they come to this part of Delhi. We just sit among the stacks of goods and wait for the next person to walk through the heavy doors. It is a slow, steady kind of work.