Surviving Trades of Mumbai: One of the last remaining Letter Press.
There's no need to 'press' anymore and the only reason for Lata Printers on NM Joshi Marg opposite the Govt. Press to not close down its doors for good is because the owner, a South Kanara man, is holding it as a future office space for his Chartered Accountant son who will be starting his own shop here, soon. Come back here in a year's time and you will see the third generation of a family at work. But one thing is sure, the grandson will not be continuing the family business.
But right now, this is one of the last surviving Letter Press in Mumbai (There are a couple of others near Grant Road). He prints the occasional wedding cards in Kannada and English for the local Bunt community. The Bunts are multi-lingual like the wonderful place they come from - South Kanara or Dakshina Kannada and Udipi Districts in the Karavali region of Karnataka. They speak Tulu, read Kannada and in Mumbai, speak the best Marathi among South Indians.
Lata Press also prints menus for the hotels and permit rooms owned by the community but the major income comes from numbering receipts.
Technology worth its weight, as scrap.
No drop down menu here, just pull out the right drawer and choose your fonts and line space.
The days are numbered for both of them. Including the numbering machine on the right.
See the full series: Surviving Trades Of Mumbai
