Chiranji Stone Kala Kendra

If you’re driving out on National Highway 11 towards Jaipur, you’ll see us near the Anaj Mandi. Chiranji Stone Kala Kendra is mostly a yard full of rock and some workspace under the shade. It’s a dusty business, there’s no way around that. We spend our days cutting and looking at different types of stone. There’s always the sound of saws or hammers in the background. It makes it hard to hear the phone sometimes, so we have to shout a bit. The sun hits the yard pretty hard in the afternoon, so we try to get the heavy lifting done early. We aren't designers in fancy offices. We’re usually covered in white stone dust by lunchtime. People pull over from the highway to see what we have. Some know exactly what they want, others just want to look at the piles of marble and granite. We’ve got some old machines that have been with us forever, and they still do the job just fine. It’s a lot of physical work, moving pieces around and making sure they don’t crack. The tea tastes better when you’ve been working out in the heat all day. It’s not a complicated life here on the Jaipur Road. We just deal in stone and try to keep the orders moving along. Sometimes the rain makes the yard a muddy mess, but that is just part of being outside and working with the earth.