J. S. Agarbathi Works

You can find J. S. Agarbathi Works tucked away at 1/34, Mke Anjanappa Lane. We are in the Old Pension Mohalla area, which is right by the Mysore Road Cross. It’s an old part of the city with very narrow lanes, so it can be a bit tricky to find if you aren't looking for it. The best way to know you’re close is the scent of the incense sticks. Our workspace is small and quite crowded with all the raw materials we need for making agarbathis. We don’t have any fancy machines doing the work for us; it’s almost all done by hand. We spend hours sitting and rolling the sticks or packing them into boxes. It’s a quiet kind of work, and we usually have the radio playing in the background to keep us company. The floors and walls have a layer of charcoal and scent powder on them, which is just part of the trade. We aren't a big factory with hundreds of workers. It’s just a few of us here doing what we know how to do. We don't do any big promotions or have a sales office. People in the neighborhood know us, and we’ve been here for a long time now. The traffic on Mysore Road is always loud, but once you step into our lane, things feel a bit more relaxed. We just focus on getting the right mix for the scents and making sure the sticks are packed neatly for everyone who needs them.