Sonali Couture

If you know Central Market in Lajpat Nagar-2, you probably know how crowded it gets on the weekends. We are at number 49/50, right in the middle of all that noise and energy. The shop isn't huge, but we make do with the space we have. There are usually piles of fabric sitting on the counters and a few hangers dangling from the walls. We spend most of our time here measuring, cutting, and making sure the needles are threaded properly. It is honest work, even if the air conditioning struggles a bit when the Delhi heat gets really bad in the summer. People come in from the street looking for something specific, and we just talk to them like neighbors. We don't have a big marketing team or anything like that. It is just a few of us working behind the counter and in the back room. The lights might flicker once in a while, and the tea guy comes by twice a day to keep us going. That is the reality of running a small place in a big market like this one. You learn to work with the space and the people around you. It gets tiring standing all day, but seeing a finished piece ready for someone to pick up makes it okay. We are just here every day, doing our jobs at the shop.