Shahjaha Khan Painter

My name is Shahjaha Khan and I do painting jobs around the Bakhtawarpur area. I don't have a big shop or anything, I just work from where I live. People usually find me by word of mouth or seeing me at a neighbor's house. I’ve been painting for a long time now. It’s mostly houses, shops, and sometimes the local gates or fences. I carry my own brushes, rollers, and scrapers. I don’t use those fancy machines; I prefer doing it by hand because you can see the mistakes better that way. Bakhtawarpur is a place where everyone kind of knows everyone, so if I do a bad job, everyone hears about it. That’s why I try to be careful, even if I’m a bit slow sometimes. I usually start work as soon as there’s enough light. I don't like leaving a mess behind, so I spend a lot of time putting down old newspapers or plastic sheets. Painting is hard on the arms, especially when you are doing ceilings all day. I’ve got a few old ladders that I’ve fixed up myself over the years. Some days I’m busy for weeks, and other times I’m just waiting for the phone to ring. I don’t mind the quiet days though, gives me time to fix my gear. It’s just honest work, nothing more and nothing less. If you need a wall freshened up, I'm usually around the village somewhere.