Jagruti Engineering Works

Being in Makarpura GIDC means you’re surrounded by the sound of metal and machines all day long. Our plot, 299/B-2/G-4, is tucked away in a corner of the estate. It’s not the easiest place to find if you’re coming here for the first time. I usually tell people to look for the big blue gate that doesn't quite close right. Jagruti Engineering Works has been operating out of this shed for years. We started with just one lathe and a lot of hope. Now the space is packed with tools and spare parts piled up in the corners. The roof is corrugated metal, so it gets incredibly hot in the summer, and when it rains, you can’t hear yourself think over the drumming sound. We have a small crew, mostly guys who have been with us since the beginning. We eat lunch together on the shop floor, usually something packed from home in a steel dabba. There’s no fancy boardroom here, just a plastic table where we look at drawings and figure out how to fix things. It’s a messy business, and we always have grease under our fingernails. We don’t do much advertising; the work just comes in because we’ve been here so long. Most of the day is spent handling orders and making sure the machines don’t give us too much trouble. It's a living, and we’re used to the dust and the constant noise of the industrial estate.