Mahalaxmi Metal Company

If you’ve ever walked through Chawri Bazar, you know how tight the lanes are. Gali Bajragbali is where we are, at number 3693, and it’s always a bit of a squeeze getting things delivered. Mahalaxmi Metal Company has been in this spot for a long time, and the walls show it. They’re a bit stained and there’s metal dust on almost every surface, but that’s just the nature of the business. We handle a lot of different metal items, so the place is usually quite noisy with the sound of things clanking together. It’s a bit dark inside sometimes, especially when the sun isn't directly overhead, but we have enough lights to see what we are doing. We don’t really do marketing or anything like that; people usually just find us because they know we’ve been here forever. The work is heavy and it can be quite tiring by the end of the day. We don’t have a fancy website or a glossy brochure to show off. Most of our notes are scribbled on bits of paper or in old ledgers that we keep on a shelf. It’s a very practical way of working, I guess. We talk to the neighbors, drink a lot of tea, and try to make sure every order is right before it leaves the shop. There’s no secret to it, just a lot of lifting and moving stuff around in the heat.