Vaishnavai Paint Shop

The shop is over at A1/1 Krishna Nagar, and it’s basically full of paint cans from floor to ceiling. Vaishnavai Paint Shop isn't the biggest place you’ve ever seen, but we try to keep what people need on the shelves. You walk in and the first thing you notice is probably the smell of thinners and fresh paint. It’s a strong smell but we’re used to it. We have the mixing machine in the corner that hums a lot when we’re trying to get a specific shade of blue or yellow right. Sometimes customers bring in a little piece of a wall or a picture and we spend a long time looking at the colors together. It can be a bit slow when the weather is rainy because nobody wants to paint then, so we just organize the brushes and rollers. When it’s sunny, it gets really crowded in here. We have stacks of catalogs that are a bit dog-eared from people flipping through them. The counter is usually covered in receipts and maybe a half-empty cup of tea. It’s just me and a couple of others helping out. We know most of the guys who do the actual painting work in this neighborhood. They stop by, grab a few gallons, and chat for a bit before heading out. It’s a simple way to make a living. We’ve been at this address for a good while and the sign outside is starting to fade a little.