Transport Corporation

Our place is on the first floor over at 1 Othawadi Street in Chennai. We’re actually sharing some space here, c/o Ramniwas Birda, so you have to look for the right door when you come up the stairs. The best landmark is the Cycle Shop bus stop; if you find that, you’re basically there. It’s a very local feel, not like those big glass buildings you see in the city center. We deal with transport, which means there’s always someone complaining about traffic or a delayed truck. The office is a bit cramped because we have a lot of ledgers and old records that we haven’t thrown away yet. There is a lot of tea drinking that goes on here, especially when the afternoon heat gets to be too much. We usually have the windows open, so you can hear the buses pulling up and the people shouting at the stop. It’s a bit of a chaotic environment, but we’re used to it. The staff is just a handful of people who have been doing this for years, so we don’t need a lot of formal meetings to know what needs to be done. We just get on with the work, writing out slips and calling up the drivers to see where they’ve reached. It’s an honest day’s work in a part of town that never really slows down, and we like being right in the middle of all the noise and activity.