Sundram Lace & Saree

Being near Mota Mandir means there is always something happening outside our door. You hear the bells and the people walking by all day long. We have been running this saree place for some time now. It’s mostly just us sitting here among the stacks of fabric and rolls of lace. People come in after they visit the temple or when they are just walking through the neighborhood. We don’t have any big signs or anything too loud, just the shop and what’s inside. Sometimes the rain makes the street a bit messy, but that’s just how it is in Surat. We spend a lot of time folding things back up after someone has looked through them. It takes a lot of patience. My father started this and now we just keep it going because it’s what we know. The shelves are full, maybe too full sometimes, so finding a specific lace can take a minute if we haven't organized it lately. We don’t do much advertising, just word of mouth from people who live nearby. It’s a quiet life for the most part, except for the holidays when everyone wants something new. We drink a lot of chai and talk to the other shopkeepers on the block. It’s not a complicated setup. We open early and stay until the street gets quiet. That’s pretty much our whole day, every day. It works for us and we like being part of the local scene.