Kumar Akash & Associates

Starting at the first floor of Malti Market here in Kankarbagh. It's a busy spot in Patna. You can hear the bells from Panch Shiv Mandir nearby when things get quiet in the afternoon. We've been at this address for a while now. The stairs up to the office are a bit narrow, but once you’re inside, it’s mostly just rows of files and the sound of the ceiling fan. Patna traffic is what it is, always noisy down on the street, but up here we just get on with the paperwork. Kumar Akash & Associates isn't a fancy place with glass walls or anything. It’s just desks, some old chairs, and a lot of registers. Sometimes the tea from the shop downstairs is the highlight of the morning. Most days involve looking at numbers and waiting for the computer to load. It gets quite warm in the summers, but that’s just how it is in Bihar. People stop by, sometimes they’re looking for the temple and get lost, so they pop in to ask for directions. We don’t have a big receptionist or a lobby. Just a door that stays open most of the time to let some air in. It’s a plain workplace where the work gets done between sips of cold water. We know the neighbors in the market pretty well. It's a simple routine, day in and day out, dealing with whatever comes across the desk.